Episode Nine: Salvation of the Golden Witch
by The Shipping Queen
Summary: A world where magic exists, but is not the culprit. After the final game, Battler's Game Master consciousness is flung back into his human body. His family has been sealed up inside the Golden Land, and Beatrice threw herself to the bottom of the sea. Bernkastel insists that a miracle will not occur. Shall we go against her just once more? BeaBattler, maybe some other pairings. OCs
1. Nijima

Episode Nine: Salvation of the Golden Witch

A/N: Yeah, because I'm a sad sap who couldn't handle such a tragic ending, I decided to write this. You don't have to believe it. If you prefer a different ending, feel free to continue with that as a reality. Be aware that this story does not contain the "?" of E8. No information revealed in that segment will apply to this world. I didn't realize it existed until after this story came to me and I love it too much to throw it away. Simply put, this story is my reality. It contains actual magic, as opposed to magic being entirely non-existent; "a world where actual magic exists." I may reference the other ending and will probably answer the question of why the fate of this world is so much different from the others. If you like, consider it a part of the cat box. This story was written after the "Magic" ending (be mindful of spoilers- if you don't want them, get out before it's too late!), with the understanding that the "Battler" who followed Beato to the depths was a hallucination, a wishful thought.

Just to give you an early explanation, the "Game Master" Battler was flung back into the original Battler's consciousness.

-  
Chapter One: Nijima

Land. Battler didn't think he'd ever set foot on land again, after everything that had happened. No more game board. No more challenges. Well, maybe that wasn't quite true. His legs felt weak from being on the water; they shook beneath him, making it hard to stand. There was a strong hunger in his stomach; Beatrice's directions would have been flawless if he knew a damn thing about what he was doing when he drove a boat, but he didn't. There was no food left on the boat he used to get here. Even now, he had almost nothing.

Battler clutched the gold in his pocket. He had washed up on shore, damp from the sea air and sweat. There was an awful sunburn on his neck, but he didn't mind. It reminded him...it reminded him of happy things.

_The sun came out from behind a cloud and gently shone its light upon the traveler. It did not do much, but it did enough. The weary traveler took off his coat._

"How did you do that?" asked the wind.

"Easy," said the sun; "I lit the day,"

The red-haired man chuckled, gazing out to the sea. "Even though I took my coat off..." he looked up to the sky; "that wasn't victory for you, was it?" a soft breeze blew, relieving him a little of the heat. "Remember what I told you," he tied the little boat to the dock he pulled up to. It had already served its use, but it seemed the prudent thing to do. "Even though that game is over...I will be sitting here...I will wait until you have become a qualified opponent. And _when_ that day comes...I will open a new game board...a new kind," looking up to the sky, he decided to exercise his abilities one last time before he lost them. **"Bernkastel and Lambdadelta be damned!" **gold text flew from his mouth. Gold, the one and only color that could be above the red. If any human caught him speaking with it, they would not be able to hear him; they might see his mouth move, but they could not hear the truth. **"We will all have a happy ending!" **the text was still gold; **"So, don't doubt me!" **Battler stepped off the dock, and approached the ocean, thankful that none of his family was around to see this. They would laugh and poke fun at him for decades. Even after all this time, he was still sappier than a maple tree. "Beato..." he said, putting his fingertips in the ocean. "You waited for me for six and a thousand years," even he had to laugh at himself at this point, though it was important to him to separate the two numbers. "So, this gold text is a gift to you," he put his hand through the salt water on the shoreline, pressing the palm of his hand into the wet sand until it was up to his wrist, and making a fist. **"I will not waver until I have waited six-thousand years! Until then, I will never once doubt you! I will not give up! And most of all, I will not forget!" **he stood yet again. "I can't keep my promise to kill you..." with a chuckle, he added; "Fifth law of Ushiromiya, it is absolutely forbidden to ask someone to make you a promise based on deception. The definition of 'deceive' is to fabricate, withhold, or otherwise manipulate information that could be crucial to the decision-making process," putting his hands in his pockets, he turned around, still speaking to the water. Hey, that sounded cool, right? He made his own law. Tilting his head back and to the side slightly, as though someone was there, he continued. "So...don't hold it against me...okay?" a grin broke out across his face. "Sleep well, Beato. You'll need your rest for the next time we see each other,"

His legs wobbled as he tried to walk, ruining the moment entirely.

"Come on now, Battler," laughed a familiar voice; "you have to make a cooler exit than that,"

His eyes widened. "Beato...?"

After he blinked, she wasn't there anymore. The man smiled to himself, and made a choice. He chose to see that fleeting moment as a message. "Got it. I'll make my exit more fitting," he agreed, taking another step. Although he desperately tried not to look like an idiot, he ended up tripping over his own legs, anyways. An intense nausea took over him, reminding him of his sea-sickness and how much he hated the ocean. Could he at least get off the shore here, before the sick feeling over-took him? He straightened himself up, and the moment his foot hit concrete, he fell on all fours and vomited. What exactly was coming out, he didn't know, since he hadn't eaten anything substantial for the last couple days, but- much like the truth of Rokkenjima- he was just as well off not knowing about it. From a place not so far away from him, Battler heard the concerned voice of an old woman calling out;

"Help! Help! Someone, call a doctor!" she continued shouting, but his brain tuned her out. He wanted to tell her he was fine, just a little sea-sick, but he couldn't get it out of his mouth. It seemed like he didn't have any control over speaking for the moment.

"I'm a doctor," he couldn't identify the voice as feminine or masculine. "What seems to be-" the statement was never finished. Battler assumed it was the doctor who ran towards him and placed a hand on his back, but he couldn't tell. They were wearing casual clothes, and might not even have been on duty. "Sir, are you alright?!" yeah, it was the same voice, but it was fuzzy from the nausea in his head.

His eyes were forced shut by a dry gag; his heart pounded.

Battler nodded in response.

"I'm going to take you to the hospital to check you over," there was more mumbling. He could hear the doctor thanking the old woman for pointing out this horrendous state he was in. At least he made it off the beach before that happened. "Can you stand, sir? If you can't, I'll call you an ambulance,"

His whole body was shaking. Every muscle in his body twisted up in pain. It hadn't hurt when he got off the boat, but he was already pretty weak then from jet-lag (or would it be called 'boat-lag?'). Hitting the ground the way he did and forcing some liquid matter out of his throat was enough to set off the aching. Battler wondered if he could stand. It would be easier if they just brought an ambulance. But this wasn't about whether or not it was easy. If he couldn't do a simple thing like standing up, how could he expect his beliefs to manifest as a miracle?

"...sir..?"

He coughed, wiped his face with his hand, and gave the doctor a proud smile. "I can stand," he replied firmly, forcing his legs to move. Before long, he was standing on his own two legs again.

"You shouldn't push yourself, sir,"

Battler folded his arms over his chest. He was quite a bit taller than this doctor, at least five inches. Hah! Did he really think something like that would be difficult? Something like standing? "Will it really make you feel better to check me out?"

"Immensely. Now, can you walk?"

_"Can I...live...?" _

He tried not to hear that voice in his head, but it was there anyways. "Of course I can walk," he told the doctor, his voice coming out too strong for the actual scenario as he imagined himself telling her that. If he wanted to bring this story to a happy finale, his belief must not falter. He took a step. "Alright then, doc. Which way to the hospital?"

"This way," the answer was unnecessary because by then Battler had already seen it. A huge sign in the front was marked "West Nijima Hospital," and it wasn't exactly small. "I'm not on duty today, but I'll make an exception," without thinking much of it, he followed the kind stranger. His ability to reason was clouded over with hunger, illness, and exhaustion from the trip, or he might have wondered whether or not this person had an ulterior motive. He really didn't want to be strapped down in a hospital right now, but what else could he do? Battler knew nothing of Nijima; he had nothing here. At least when he moved away from home the first time, he had an idea of where he was going; he could make it to a grocery store and back. Staying at a hospital would buy some time for him to decide what to do.

The doctor had to check in, and immediately admitted the new patient. An office receptionist with an annoyingly high-pitched voice commented; "How rare to see you here on your day off!"

"I have to keep you on your toes a bit. Right this way, sir,"

It started to get weird when Battler realized that this doctor was asking him questions normally a triage nurse would ask. While it made things easier and more convenient, it was also very strange, and he doubted it was a matter of 'this is just how it is on Nijima.' The doctor was mumbling something about treatment, about wanting to run blood-tests and make sure his brain waves were functioning properly. He found himself unable to concentrate on what was happening around him. It felt like he had some new place within his mind; a blank, empty space. The sensation of a cold water-bottle against his wrist jolted him out, and he had to wonder when that doctor had moved.

"You're far too dehydrated for me to take blood from you,"

Battler took the water bottle. His hands were so hot it felt like steam should be rising from the palms; he almost expected a sizzle as the condensation on the outside of the bottle came in contact with it. Luckily, nothing like that happened. "Thanks," he said, taking a drink. He didn't realize how dry his throat and mouth were until the cold water hit it, and then he was craving it. Water that didn't quite make it dripped from the corners of his mouth. The only reason he stopped when he did was because he had finished the entire bottle. Although he needed air, he would have kept drinking if there was more.

The doctor laughed. "I'll have to get you another, looks like you were pretty dried out,"

"Wait," he called to the doctor's back. "I have a question for you,"

"Go ahead," when the doctor turned around, Battler realized he hadn't been seeing this person too well. In other words, this was either a girl, or a man with boobs. They weren't incredibly large, but they were present nonetheless.

"What's going on?" it was a vague question. He sighed at himself. "I just find it strange..." now who was talking in riddles? "A foreigner lands on your shores, and you give up time on your day off to take them to the hospital, do the in-take yourself, and make sure there's no significant wait time," as he spoke, his hand brushed against the gold in his pocket. It dawned on him; had she noticed? Was that what this was about? If she thought he had money, she had another thing coming. If she thought he was going to give it up, she had a whole lot more coming.

Her responding facial expression was as serene as ever. "I noticed," she told him, answering the question in his mind. Before he could continue on by explaining that he had nothing, she added; "I'd be lying if I said I had no ulterior motive- but make no mistake. It's not your money," she never let it out, but he could sense a chuckle in the way she spoke. "My name is Nanjo Akashi. I recognize the symbol on your clothes,"

He was going to comment on her name being so masculine, but he refrained in favor of asking another question. "Nanjo, huh? Do you know a-"

"Terumasa is my uncle," she responded. "I recognize the symbol of the one-winged eagle because of the post cards my family gets every year during Christmas. I didn't know my uncle very well, but thanks to him, the Nanjo family and the Ushiromiya family became friends," he wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic about that or not, but the way she was speaking sounded intentionally discrete. These might be some of the "contacts" he heard about. "Ushiromiya-san paid off almost all of my family's debt while Terumasa-ojisan was working for him. If it wasn't for Ushiromiya-san and your family, I wouldn't be a doctor. I would never have been able to afford it," she looked right at him. "So, when I realized you might be a member of their family, I knew I had to help you. I was sure...I was sure the explosion would have blown you all up,"

Battler smiled at her. "Good ol' gramps," he said in his usually teasing manner.

She decided not to give him any more on that matter. "If there's anything I can help you with, I will be happy to. For example, I have special powers that could turn that gold ingot into yen,"

He laughed at her comment. "Special powers, huh?" with that, he lifted the water bottle up so it was right beside his head. "Can your powers fill up this bottle with more for me to drink?"

Slightly surprised by the way he brought it up, Akashi giggled softly with her lips shut. "That's one of my specialties. I'll be right back," she left the exam room without taking the water-bottle. Battler stared at it, shrugged, and put his hand back down. His head was either clearing up a bit, or was so clouded over that he couldn't tell there was a problem. When the doctor came back in, she found him spaced out again. Smirking, she set the cold bottle against his wrist, which made him jerk again.

"You did that on purpose!"

She giggled softly. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. What could be filling your mind so much, I wonder?"

It wasn't so much 'filling' as it was 'un-filling.' He answered with a smug look. "I'm sure whatever you think I might be thinking about is more interesting than what I am thinking about," Battler told her.

"Here's your water," she held the bottle out to him.

"Oh, look," he took it; "your special powers even made me a new bottle,"

"I told you! It's my specialty," she waited for him to drink the second bottle, which only took marginally longer than the first one. Getting that dehydrated was definitely not good. "I'll go ahead and move you into a room. If nothing else, you'll have a chance to rest there," with a smile, she added; "You look exhausted,"

He laughed. "Hey, you think three days floating around in the water is enough to tire me out?" she couldn't possibly know his consciousness had been alive for much, much longer; that sleep was rare among meta-beings. It had been a long time since this consciousness was in a human body.

"In that case, you can lie on your hospital bed and make fun of me to the ceiling,"

"Sounds good to me," he answered, stretching his arms back behind his head. The searing pain of his sunburn rocketed from his shoulder blades to his arms. "Ahk-!"

Again, Akashi was giggling at him. "You have a second-degree burn all over," she said; "don't you remember me telling you?"

That must have been during the time he was so wrapped up in his own mind that he didn't notice anything. "Ah…no,"

"I'll take care of that as soon as I get you back to your room. I don't think it's too serious,"

As soon as they got in, she had him take off his shirt and used a spray bottle to mist the blistered skin on his back. Then she covered it in a loose wrapping of gauze.

"Go ahead and lie down on the bed. I'll be back in soon to run more tests on you,"

"Do you really need a test to tell you I'm just sea-sick?"

"I want to make sure you haven't suffered a heat stroke. Where were you when I explained this?"

In a black hole. "Ha-ha, guess I wasn't paying attention,"

"Clearly," she watched as he got on the bed and relaxed. "Your temperature is 37.8 Celsius, which is a bit low to have a stroke, but I want to be certain,"

"I still think you're being awfully nice for someone who doesn't actually know me from Adam. How much are you expecting me to pay you?"

"Are you so frivolous that you'd pay someone to help you?" she smiled at him. "What will you pay me with, then? I don't care what you pay me with, as long as there's plenty of it," Akashi left after saying that.

Battler laughed and looked up at the ceiling. "She doesn't even know my name," he said; "I'll be really worried if her only motivation is to help me," as far as she was concerned, he could be the person responsible for the explosion on Rokkenjima. Yet, she hadn't even questioned him. How strange.

It was only a few minutes later when she came in, followed by a nurse who pushed a tray of hospital food. Battler, however, was already asleep.

-

When he woke up a couple hours later, he didn't even remember falling asleep. There was a Band-Aid on his arm where a needle might go through to take blood, and on his other arm, there was an IV that was filled with some clear fluid.

"Battleeerrrr…."

"Huh?" he turned his head frantically. Nothing was there. This was the second time that had happened in just today. "Hm…" well, now was just as good a time as any to find a bathroom. Battler got up, maneuvering the arm with an IV carefully, and brought the drip line with him while he walked around. His legs felt stronger than before, but he was still pretty weak. Something to eat wouldn't kill him. After just a little searching, he finally found the restroom. His hair felt stiff and sticky. Since no one was around to tell him not to, he took the gauze off and got into the shower. There was nothing to use but the tepid water. It was enough to get some of the salt and sand off him, at least. After he got out, he patted himself dry with a towel and went back into his bed to watch television. He wasn't paying much attention to it. There were many questions he probably should be asking right now about where he was going to work and live, what he was going to do, but he wasn't. He wasn't thinking about anything.

It was some time later when a nurse came in to check on him. Again, she was carrying a tray with some hospital food on it, and a couple bottles of water. "Ah, you're awake," he looked at her, pulled away from the depths of his mind by the scent of food. Noticing the look on his face, she added; "Should I even ask if you're hungry?"

Before she had time to notice, he grabbed it and started practically shoveling food into his mouth. She was so shocked by it that she couldn't help but laugh. Within a couple minutes, he had finished everything that was there on the plate.

"My, my, someone isn't picky,"

Battler shook his head.

"Nanjo-sensei will be happy to know you've eaten all of it," it was strange to hear the name of his father's physician being used for someone else. "Shall I get you more?" he nodded, his mouth too stuffed for him to reply with words. She left to get him some more…something…he didn't question what. When the nurse came back, he snatched the tray from her again, and this time ate more slowly.

"Where did the doctor go?"

"She probably left to finish the rest of her day off. She'll be back in the morning, so don't worry,"

"Please," he answered; "Do I look worried?"

"No," she replied, heaving a sigh. "I was just curious about something,"

"What's that?"

"What…is your name?"

His mouth was full by the end of the question, so he couldn't answer right away. Battler wondered if he should come up with a different name to go by. The news would be broadcasting his last name everywhere; he didn't want to be hounded by press. Most people would assume that the one-winged eagle on his clothing was just a nice design; no one, including the news broadcasts, knew it was a family crest. But the name alone...that could be recognized.

"If I tell you, you have to keep it a secret,"

"Of course,"

"My name is Ushiromiya Battler. You can just call me Battler,"

"'Battler?' That sounds like a Western name,"

"It is. My grandfather was very passionate about Western culture, and it got passed down the family line. And what's your name?"

"Irie Miko,"

"Miko? Like, at a shrine..?"

"No," she grinned. "It's spelled from the words 'snake' and 'small.'"

He nodded to show that he understood. The food was gone again, and now, so was the better part of one water bottle. "Hey, you know, this food's pretty good,"

"I don't think I've ever heard someone describe our hospital food that way,"

"First time for everything,"

Miko gently took the empty tray from him and set it down on the cart. "I almost forgot. I brought you an ice pack and some Motrin for your burn," she said, picking both items up. "The Motrin is for pain. Here you go, Battler-kun,"

"Ah, thanks, Irie-sensei,"

"No problem. Is there something else I can get you? It looks like the gauze on your burn came off. I'll re-wrap it for you," she took some gauze from the cabinet and loosely put it on, just as Akashi had earlier. Once she was done, he took the Motrin. "There you go. Now, remember, don't leave the ice pack on for longer than fifteen minutes,"

"Got it,"

"Is there something else I can get for you?"

Battler closed his eyes, fighting the urge to stretch his arms behind his neck so he would look cool; it was too painful. "Nah. If I need anything, I'll push the 'call' button,' he motioned toward the button on the hospital bed remote.

"Alright. I'll be back in to check on you soon,"

Again, he found himself looking at the ceiling. What was he supposed to do now...? He wondered about it. How does one change their belief into a reality? Should he throw himself so deep into the occult that he went mad? That wasn't likely to work. But, if he got too lost in the immediate, physical world, would he lose it?

Well, the Head of the family was known for "making bizarre claims" without any back-up and then coming up with "something" when the time came.

True to her word, the nurse came back. Again, she found Battler fast asleep.

-

He slept until the wee hours of the next morning. It was still dark when he got up, and the shift change probably hadn't happened yet. He wished he could sleep a little more, but his body was having none of it. Although he had been sleeping, it felt like he had accomplished something. Battler reached into his pocket and clutched at the gold bar. It was still there.

Maybe he should send her a letter.

The thought occurred to him suddenly, so suddenly that he didn't know where it came from. Yeah, maybe he'd send her a letter. There was a window in the hospital room he watched the sun rise through.

It reminded him of a legend. Now, what was it? Ah, yes, the Egyptians. At night, the Sun god would "die" and sink beneath the ocean until he reached the underworld. Each day was treated as a celebration of the sun's "rebirth." According to the Egyptians, the sun was doing impossible things every day.

It was a beautiful story.

A small while after the sun rose, a couple more nurses came around, taking everyone's orders for the day. One of them gave him a couple more Motrin, and told him the doctor would be on shift soon. "Thanks," was all he said. He waited a while longer. The breakfast tray had already come around by the time Akashi came to see him.

"Good morning," she said, pulling out a chart.

"'Morning," he answered; "am I to assume that you didn't find any evidence of heat stroke yesterday?"

"You can assume that," she replied, glossing over some parts the nurse added about what he had eaten. "And you'd be right. I'm just going to keep you here for another night, to make sure you don't have any ill effects from the dehydration,"

"I see," Battler sighed in response.

There was a small pause. "You still don't trust me, do you?"

"No, I don't,"

"... ... ... I guess it is weird, from your perspective,"

"What do you want from me?"

"What makes you so sure I want something?"

"A strange man washes up on the beach after spending a few days in a motorboat. You identify him as a member of the wealthy Ushiromiya family and offer to help him without even asking for his name. Thus far, no other Ushiromiya family members are known to have left the island that recently exploded. Yet, you bring me in here and attempt to nurse me back to health without even asking for money. That doesn't make sense to me,"

She glanced down, then looked up at him. "You want to understand my reasoning, then? ...okay," he wasn't sure what she was getting ready to say. "I wanted to question you about the explosion,"

Battler looked at her. That was believable enough. "Okay, then question me,"

For a short moment, there was a slightly pained look on her face- as though she wasn't sure what she was going to say. Then she answered; "Did you know about the explosives on Rokkenjima before the incident?"

"No,"

"How did you escape?"

"I was in an underground tunnel when the bomb went off,"

"How did you know to get away?"

Hah, that was a good one. Why would you be in a little-known underground tunnel during an explosion unless you knew the explosion was going to occur? She was pretty good. Could he even give a satisfactory answer to that?

She stood back against the counter and looked at him. "So far, from my perspective, there are two possibilities,"

"And what are they?"

"You're either innocent, or ridiculously stupid,"

From that statement, he was rather thrown. Sensing his confusion, she answered the unspoken question;

"If you're innocent, it's possible that you haven't had time to figure out what you're going to tell people about how you survived because your life has been in danger. You escaped on a motorboat with little preparation and obviously got lost trying to get to a safe place, you might have been here much earlier if you had known what you were doing. You also never even thought of changing your clothes, nor did you give me a fake name. If you're guilty of causing the explosion on Rokkenjima, you're awfully stupid," she stopped while Battler laughed at himself. "I'm sorry, I didn't want you to know I had ever suspected you,"

"No, I'm glad. It makes more sense now,"

"Next time, you should just accept a person's kindness,"

"And miss the wonderful speech you prepared for me?" he laughed. "Hey, I was meaning to ask you something, but I never had the chance,"

"What is that?"

"Can your special powers help me find a place to stay?" he inquired; "I'd sort of like to keep my presence here a secret, at least for a while,"

"Hm..." Akashi glanced down, and a smirk appeared across her face. "Yeah...I think I can arrange that,"

Battler responded with a half-smile. "That's great. I'm lucky I ran into you, Akashi-sensei,"

"Yes," she turned her back to him as she started to walk out; "you are,"


	2. Memory

Chapter Two: Memory

A/N: The hardest thing about doing this is making OCs and keeping them from becoming part of the main cast...admit it, Umineko has enough main characters as it is!

-

_"That's right. But that doesn't mean that the vase avoided its fate of being broken. I did nothing but make the broken vase remember how it was before it broke for the time being..."  
_-Virgilia, Banquet of the Golden Witch

-

Two weeks had passed since his short hospitalization. Following that, Battler had been invited to move in with Akashi, in order to "stay under the radar" for a while. It was a three bedroom house, with one of those bedrooms being a guest room- and that was his room for now. It turned out to be that Akashi was taking care of her elderly mother in her house.

"Battler-kun," she lightly tapped his shoulder. After being around for a few days, he had gotten used to both Akashi and Miko. With them around, adjusting to Nijima wasn't so difficult.

"Yes?"

"I've made you a list,"

"...mm-?" he took the piece of notebook paper from her. Milk. Eggs. Rice. "Oh, a shopping list,"

"Right! How perceptive of you," she playfully slapped his shoulder. He chuckled. "You still remember where the grocery store is?"

"If not, I'll fake it,"

"How tenacious," Miko stuck her own two cents in, as always.

"Alright, Battler-kun," Akashi grinned; "Miko and I are going to work. You be a good little housewife and bring home the groceries,"

"...H-Housewife?!" Miko was already giggling at the stunned expression on his face by the time he said it.

"That's exactly it! Good job," she was laughing at him. "See you later,"

"Bye, Battler-san!" Miko waved, following Akashi out to the car.

"...hmph. Housewife," he grumbled to himself. Although, to be fair, they had a point. They pulled out the driveway and headed off to work. "May as well get an early start," he had his breakfast and, with that, he left the house.

The streets of Nijima were only moderately busy; much less than his home in the city, and definitely much more than Rokkenjima. At this hour of the day, there weren't many people out and about, aside from those who were going to work. A couple people on bikes rode slowly by. Cars passed. Battler stuck his hands in his pockets and whistled as he walked. The grocery store came into view quickly. When he was close enough that it was right across the street, he started to cross- but something caught his eye.

Wait a minute. Who walks around in a dress like that during an average day? He immediately stopped, pulled his leg up, and followed in the direction he had seen it. She wasn't too far ahead of him, but he wasn't going to holler or grab her- it would be horrible if he did that and he was wrong...although, he was sure he wasn't. After all, who owned clothes like that?

She turned a corner. He was just about to follow when a loud sound broke his concentration.

_Honk! Hoooonnnkk!_

Battler jerked, his memory flashing back to what he remembered about Ange's future. He heard a woman scream. A couple seconds later, he felt quite disoriented to find himself still on the sidewalk. If he had gone to cross the street just then, he would have been hit. He glanced down the sidewalk in the direction that person had gone. Although it wasn't enough time for her to have gotten completely out of sight range, she was no longer there. Huh.

He turned back. Two people were carrying a person up on to the sidewalk; one of them was in a uniform that suggested he was the driver of the vehicle. The woman was crying hysterically. Battler cautiously crossed the street, coming up on the sidewalk. It never occurred to him that someone else would have to suffer this. Hell, if he hadn't been chasing that woman, he would have been the person. Could he help? Was there really anything he could do for them if he approached? After all, it's not like he could tell them everything he knew.

_Now is not the time to be a coward._

Right. "Hey!" oh, yeah. What exactly was he supposed to say? Well, he'd figure that out in a minute. "Hey, it'll be alright," he told the woman; "I'm sure everything will be just fine," he looked at the truck driver, wondering if it was the same one who had plowed him in all those other worlds. If so, this guy sure was clumsy. "Has anybody called a doctor?"

"I...I...I don't know!" the both of them were in a panic, and understandably so.

"I'll go make sure," he offered, running inside the nearest place with an open door. It appeared to be a small florist. "Hey! Someone's been hit by a car, I need to use your phone!"

A confused man from behind the counter obliged, motioning him towards the office phone. Battler wasted no time dialing the emergency number. When the operator asked him where he was, he had to check with the florist, since he wasn't used to the street names. The ambulance sirens could be heard before he even left the building. "Thanks," was all he said to the ever-disoriented person working the counter.

Since the medics were rolling the man inside the ambulance as he walked out, Battler decided not to bother them. It was so weird...normally, a person wouldn't know something like this; they'd think it was just an accident. But when Battler found out the truth of the game, he found out the whole truth- including what happened to the "pieces" after a game.  
He didn't know whether to feel thankful, or guilty.

It was still on his mind an hour later, when he finished the shopping. He made sure to be careful on his way home; it would be a shame if he got hit anyways, after all. Now that he thought about it, he was never this fortunate in the other worlds he saw. On the first day after coming ashore, he should have been hit. The "Battler" of this world should have died. But...for some reason...it didn't happen that way. Did that qualify this as a miracle?

_"A miracle will definitely not happen,"_

No, a "miracle" would have been if no one had gotten hit. Did that mean he'd just ended up in a more fortunate world? Or was it something else? Maybe it had something to do with his current consciousness being that of the Golden Sorceror...or because, in this world, Ange had gone with them to the family conference in Rokkenjima. In any case, he should be grateful. "Battler" was spared.

Heaving a sigh, he entered the house again and began to put away the groceries. Nanjo-san, Akashi's mother, was up and around- she was a feisty old woman who got bored otherwise.

"Ah, Battler-kun, you're back," she acknowledged him.

"Yes, Nanjo-san. I went grocery shopping," it was hard to think of her as being in ill-health, as he'd been told. She always seemed energetic to him, so much so that it made her wrinkled skin and white hair almost go away when he looked at her.

"Good. Akashi-chan and Miko-chan are so busy, I hope they're thankful to have a helper," she looked at him with a smirk and added; "Who would have thought someone like you would make such a good housewife?"

Housewife?! Again, he was hearing that! Was there some sort of conspiracy?! Well, anyways, the groceries were put away now.

"Come on, it's boring if you don't retaliate,"

Battler scratched his head.

"Can't think of anything?"

"...ah..."

She giggled at him with the same "Ku ku ku" sort of laugh Akashi had. "This is why you're so much fun to harass, even when you don't retaliate," she giggled a little bit more, and motioned for the seat beside her at the kitchen table. "Why don't you come play some Mahjong with an old woman?"

He nodded and sat down beside her.

"It's good to have another person in the house during the day," she sat back in the chair and started taking the first matching pairs. "Akashi-chan takes me too seriously. It's no fun,"

Battler took out some matches he found. "It's hard to imagine her taking anything seriously,"

The old woman giggled. "Oh, my. Next, you're going to tell me you haven't figured out she and Miko are dating,"

At the moment she spoke, he happened to be drinking from a bottle of water. He spit it out in shock, leading her to laugh so hard she grabbed her sides.

"It isn't that funny,"

"Their bedroom is in the same hallway as yours. They live in the same house. My daughter still has the same last name as me..." she shook her head as she spoke; "and it never occurred to you?"

_You are incompetent. _"Ihihi, I guess not. I never thought about it,"

"They think I don't know," Nanjo-san took the last matching pair away from the table; "I guess all children think their mother is oblivious,"

Battler laughed and started to take more out of the Mahjong table, only just realizing the old woman had won.

"I've never laughed at anyone this much," she reached across the table, slapping him on the shoulder. Geeze, she was strong for being such an old woman. There was a slight pause as she started re-assembling the game. "Speaking of, there's something I've been meaning to ask you,"

"Hm? Ask away,"

"Were you really alone when you came ashore in Nijima?"

Battler was a bit shocked at the question; it seemed strange. "As far as I know. Why would you think I was with someone?"

There was a small smile on her face when she replied; "Because, in the story Akashi told me, someone came up from the beach and found her. She was two blocks away and never would have come that direction if she hadn't been approached,"

Now, he was even more shocked. "Wha-?!"

"It's just what she told me. There's no reason to worry about it,"

12:30pm, West Nijima Hospital

_"...investigations at this remote island will continue for the time being..."_

Akashi sighed, grabbing a tray for her lunch. It was barely half-way through her day, if even that, but she was already pretty exhausted. Her blue hair was dissheveled, her clothing wrinkled. It didn't help that the five-hundred or so televisions in the hospital were playing the news, aside from the pediatric wards (which were mostly playing cartoons). Television stations that weren't playing the news were playing talk shows, which were pretty much the worst of them all.

_"Where would a family get that much dynamite?"_

_"Why would you rig your home with it?" _

"Nanjo-sensei,"

"...ah-?"

"Are you...going to choose what you want for lunch?"

"...yeah..."

She took a sandwich and returned to the dining area to eat. Doctors, nurses, and technicians alike were still chatting about "the Rokkenjima incident." They should really just shut up about it.

"Sensei,"

There was only one person who called her "sensie" at work, without using her last name. "Irie-san," Miko sat down across from her.

"Looks like you got a late start on lunch today, too," as usual, she'd brought her own bento box. She detested the food made by the hospital, and she was probably one of the pickiest people on earth- so it wasn't terribly strange.

Akashi smirked. "Yeah. I was in the emergency department all morning,"

"Ah," there was a small pause where both of them ate. "So, what's bothering you, anyway?"

"...huh?"

"You're normally not this quiet. Did something happen in the emergency department?"

She shook her head. "No, it's not...about work...really,"

"...mm..." given the look on her face, some sarcastic remark was about to come. "Well, that answers every question I could possibly have about why you have such a gloomy look on your face,"

After quite a while of just sitting there quietly, she finally said something. "No one could have known about those explosives,"

Miko was a bit shocked. "I see. You're still upset over that news story,"

"... ... ... ..no one could have known about those explosives...except...Terumasa-ojisan,"

"Oh? I thought you didn't know your uncle that well. Why would it be bothering you so much, Sensei?"

She looked down, as though trying to figure out whether or not she should say it. Finally, she heaved a sigh, and began to answer. "You're right. I didn't know him that well, but I was always told he was a good man. He never forgot his family, even after he made that much money working for the Ushiromiya family. He helped his children, his grandchildren, and...even his brother. I don't want to believe he did it,"

"And what makes you think he did?"

Akashi smiled sadly. "The entire Nanjo family is known to walk the line between law and crime. I was told Terumasa-ojisan went to Rokkenjima for the sake of some huge secret. It's not strange that he would know about the explosives..."

Of course, the military base was still a secret. No one knew about Rokkenjima being anything but a remote island that was owned by a family, except for a few who had died in the explosion. A few conspiracy theorists had come out with ideas like that, but most normal people wrote it off as paranoia. It was unlikely, why would they have another military base?

"But it's not entirely impossible that someone else knew about it. If you're going to suspect someone, Battler is the most suspicious,"

She nodded. "Realistically, that's true. But I don't suspect him at all. He flounders too much, gets thrown off too easily...people who are capable of of murder are charismatic. They're unspeakably charming, insanely intelligent, and they have iron-clad alibis. Someone who was smart enough to even find out about tons of secret explosives and know how to put them to use would also have been smart enough to stock some food and water on their get-away boat," as she spoke the last statement, a small smile crept up on her face.

Miko returned the expression. "We'll probably never know for certain exactly what happened," she said, reaching under the table and lightly grasping the other girl's hand. It was true. The authorities were even doubting the authenticity of the 'message in a bottle' that washed up on shore. All the relevent people were dead. "But, if you're right, and Battler isn't the culprit, then even the culprit died in the explosion. Don't let it get you so down, Sensei,"

"... ... ... yeah," she finally broke into a full smile. "You're right," with that, she finished the last few bites of her sandwich, and said; "We still have a few minutes left. You wanna go to the pediatric floor and watch some cartoons?"

-

_**A certain result requires a certain will. **_

By this time, it was considerably later in the day- well, night, really. The sun had set and any fun that was to be had in the home was over. Miko and Akashi sat at opposite ends of the couch watching television. Nanjo-san played solitaire at the coffee table in the living room. Battler, on the other hand, was in the kitchen. In front of him was a notebook he had already begun writing in.

_**If you don't have the will-power to bring about a result, it won't happen.**_

After his trials as Game Master, he knew how to put together a story. In regards to the game, it was called "weaving a tale." Thinking about it like that was more accurate. Anyways, this would give him something to work on, and keep him from just leeching off this family. What's more, he actually enjoyed the weaving of a tale...so, what could be better?

_**On the other hand, if you do have the will-power to bring about a certain result, it will happen whether or not I (Lady Lambdadelta) grant it.**___

Battler finished the last of the words he'd write in the forward. _"No one can tell you what to believe, but for those who believe in magic- it most certainly exists.  
Sleep well, my Golden Witch, Beatrice.  
-Tohya Hachijou."_


	3. A Happy Tragedy

Chapter Three: A Happy Tragedy

A/N: So, it looks like I have some people following this story. A couple of you have reviewed a little, and I'm assuming those who haven't are doing okay with the story so far or you wouldn't still be following it. If you're ever feeling chatty, feel free to send me something; us writers like to talk with our readers. Because Author's Notes and fanfiction reviews exist, this level of reasoning is possible for The Shipping Queen! Do you see how far this reasoning takes me?

Also, those of you who aren't in my head might be tempted to think this chapter will lead to an overly-quick solution; rest assured, the solution does not rest in this chapter. If you have any other questions, please ask me.

P.S: I can't for the life of me figure out if Ange's new name is Kotobuki Yukari or Yukari Kotobuki (in other words, I have no clue which is her first/last name). Since I think the character for Kotobuki matches up with Ange, I'm using that as the first name. Thanks!

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The kitchen was busy with steam and sounds. A tea kettle whistled, a rice-cooker hummed, a pot on the stove boiled. According to the clock, it was about 9:30am. Tea went into a tea-cup, and food went onto plates and into bowls: miso soup, poached egg over rice, broiled salmon, and pickled radishes- just to name some.

"Kotobuki-sama! Good morning!" the red-head turned her head in the direction of the voice. "Is this all you're having for breakfast?"

"Haha, only you would scoff at a breakfast this size, Beelzebub,"

"Kotobuki-sama, good morning,"

"Good morning, Satan. Asmodeus,"

"Doesn't Amakusa-san usually handle this, Kotobuki-sama?" Leviathan inquired as she, too, appeared.

"Yes, but he was up late last night to help me with a project," she turned off all the kitchen appliances; "so I'm letting him sleep in a little,"

There wasn't much of a pause. "That's kind of you, Kotobuki-sama," Belphegor bowed, her arm positioned over her waist. Behind her came Lucifer.

"I suppose so," she replied; "He's been helping me a lot, lately. I wouldn't want to burn him out," as she turned towards the kitchen table, she saw Mammon and Sakutaro sitting there together.

"Good morning!"

"Uryuu~ It's good to see you,"

Kotobuki giggled as she sat down. The house was never quiet for long; if it wasn't the Seven Sisters making noise, it was Amakusa.

"What are you going to do today?" Mammon asked.

Her mouth was full as the question came out, so she had to wait to swallow. "Hm…" she thought; "there's still quite a bit I need to do, isn't there?" it seemed like a rhetorical question. "Ah, I have classes today…but I wanted to keep looking for new jobs to send the Fukuin employees to…"

"It sounds like you will have your hands full today," Belphegor was the first to answer. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

"I'm sure there is. I'll decide that after breakfast,"

Six months had passed since ANGE-Beatrice played her own game, and discovered the truth. Okonogi was doing well with the family's estate, and he wasn't stingy with her by any means. She was in the process of beginning a couple stories. Along with that, there was one other project she was interested in working on: the Fukuin house. Originally, she was just going to give it to Okonogi and let him take care of it along with the rest of Kinzou's belongings, but she wanted to take responsibility for it herself after she learned more about the reason it was founded. Once she decided what she wanted to do with it, the number of tasks to be done opened up like a flood-gate. The first matter of business was split between two tasks: one was to get rid of certain employees, and the other was to hire new people who would be able to fit in with such an idiosyncratic place. It wouldn't be any good to just go removing people without having someone else to fill in, and besides that, most of the people working there had been doing their jobs for a good many years. If they were going to be removed, they should at least be given a place to go where they could fit in and succeed. That was easier said than done, since even most of the instructors lived there, with no mode of transportation other than their own legs, and made a very good salary. That made finding suitable new jobs for them very difficult, but Kotobuki was determined, and she wasn't alone. She had the Seven Stakes, Sakutaro, and sometimes even Maria-oneechan to help her, just to name a few.

"Shall I clean up for you, Kotobuki-sama?" Belphegor stood right next to her as she finished the last of her food.

"That's probably not a good idea," she answered, picking up the plate. "Amakusa will be getting up any minute now, it would be hard for me to explain the girl who just spontaneously appeared in my house," in six months, that had only happened once before. Mammon manifested with the power of Kotobuki's belief. When Amakusa ran into her, you can bet he was confused, and she had a slightly difficult time making up a believable lie. "Thank you anyways,"

She nodded, and said nothing else.

"Ah, it's almost eleven," the red-head laughed and scratched the back of her head. "I suppose it might be time to do something productive now," some of the sisters had started messing around and making noise while she was eating. At the moment, Asmodeus was practically squealing over an opportunity to officially meet Amakusa in this world ("I would surely win him over!")- and that was the most coherent of the noises being made. It would be easier to get their attention one at a time rather than collectively. "Beelzebub, I have a task for you,"

"Ah~? What is it, Kotobuki-sama? Will I get to eat something?"

"Well-"

She was cut off by something strange that appeared to be standing directly behind Beelzebub. The other six sisters and Sakutaro had all seen it as well, and their noise was temporarily stopped. It was a faint white light in the shape of a person.

"Did someone ruin the mood?" Beelzebub turned around to see what was going on.

"What…is this?" Mammon looked to her friend.

"I don't know," Kotobuki replied, not taking her eyes from the form. "At first I thought it might be Maria-oneechan, but she never has so much trouble manifesting. Whoever you are, show yourself if you can,"

The white wisps of air solidified into a single figure, then began to gain color, particle by particle. It didn't take long for any of them to catch onto who this was. Kotobuki stood on guard, and the sisters formed a circle around her. After a couple moments, she started to feel her energy level lessen. The figure solidified more and more; golden blonde hair fashioned back into a bun with a red flower at the side, the long dress, blue eyes. She even had that characteristic smirk, her head slightly tilted back. There could be no mistaking it.

"Beatrice..?" Asmodeus was terribly confused, as were most of the rest of them. In this world, she shouldn't show up that way.

"That's not possible!" Satan snapped at her, and all the other sisters indirectly. "It isn't Beatrice!"

There was a slight pause. The red-head with twin pigtails nodded. "Please calm down, Satan. But, you're right. This isn't Beatrice,"

"Ushiromiya Ange-sama," it was even her exact voice. "You are very intuitive," her head and shoulders lowered in a bow. "I'm very sorry for the trouble my presence has caused you,"

There was a pause. In the midst of the silence, Mammon stepped towards their guest and bowed. "Excuse me, visitor-sama," she said; "but our master is now called Yukari Kotobuki,"

The figure smiled sincerely at the one who approached her, a familiar glance, as though this person should know her true identity. But, if she thought anything of her, she didn't say it. "I understand. Please forgive me, I was unaware of this. However, if I were to look for the person once known as Ushiromiya Ange, that would be you- yes?"

"Indeed, it would. Who are you, and why do you appear to me in this form?"

"Ah, who am I…that is a complicated question," she laughed. "I am A Happy Tragedy,"

The look on Kotobuki's face turned utterly startled. "A Happy Tragedy?"

She nodded. "_Magic, or trick,_" the girl began to quote the forward of the story Battler started six months prior, in the world after Ange's turn at the game. "_that is the question I will present you with,_"

"…'is this world a place only for humans, or does something like magic actually exist? You are the only one who holds the answer',"

The Beatrice look-a-like was the one to be startled this time, until Kotobuki picked up a stack of papers that were on the kitchen counter. When she turned them over, she was doubly shocked to see the title- "A Happy Tragedy," along with almost the entire forward- word for word.

"Aha! So that's why! That's why I could appear in front of you, too!"

Although the seven sisters didn't understand yet, it seemed their new "Beatrice" had. "I see. So you were the story Battler-oniichan had inside his heart,"

"In short, yes," she replied. "I am also The Courage to Keep Believing, Even in the Face of Knowing," her hand brushed across the paper. "I suppose this means I was not just created by Battler-kamisama, but also by you, who also has The Courage to Keep Believing. That's amazing!"

Since it seemed like the threat of danger was gone, the sisters let their guard down.

"I'm tired of being leeeffftt ooouuuttt!" Leviathan whined. "I want to know what's going on!"

"Stop your whining! You'll annoy Kotobuki-sama!" Satan was the first to respond.

The aforementioned woman glanced at Leviathan. "You don't understand? Our guest is…a 'creation' of Battler-oniichan,"

"Yes," she replied. "That's a perfect way to explain it. For now, why don't you call me Yuuki?"

"Good enough," at this point, even she could understand why this person was so identical to the Beatrice her brother battled against. "Yuuki, what business do you have with me? Can I help you or Onii-chan in any way?" if not for the fact that this person was clearly affiliated with her brother, she may have been more vigilant about offering help so quickly- however, if it was to help the cause of bringing her brother back to her, she would be more than willing to do it.

With that, she nodded eagerly. "Yes. I came here to seek your help, Kotobuki-kamisama," this person now seemed even more childish and innocent than the former Beatrice could sometimes seem. It was hard to believe they could be taken for one another. "After the last game, Battler-kamisama and Beatrice-sama sealed the Ushiromiya family inside a cat-box known as The Golden Land," the girl looked down, seemingly hesitant to say the next part. However, she was met with a smile.

"I know," she said; "you don't have to walk around it like you're hiding secrets from a child. Please continue explaining,"

"In over two billion worlds, Beatrice-sama dies, and the Golden Land ceases to exist," both of them knew the other part, but in spite of what she had been told, Yuuki could not bring herself to say it aloud. Battler's death had just as much to do with the destruction of the Golden Land as Beatrice's; if his consciousness had survived, his belief in such a place may have kept his family safe and alive somehow. "The world I'm from is an exception. The Golden Land still exists in that world," Kotobuki nodded, urging her to continue. "However, when they sealed it, they locked it to keep the goats from being able to take it away. You are the only one who can possibly open up this place while it's locked," as she said that, Yuuki lowered her body in a deep bow. "The last game would certainly have had a happy ending if the game board hadn't been taken over,"

A moment of utter silence passed. The visitor did not stand up. Finally, there came a response. "… … …I see. You need me to help you get them out of there,"

"Yes," she stood only to face the person speaking to her. "It's impossible for me, and although the Golden Sorcerer is still in him, it's nearly impossible for him to access his power inside the form of the piece unless he's sleeping. Because the Game Board was stolen from him, his ability to even use those powers is draining, as well. In short, you are the only one who contains magic compatible with Beatrice-sama's Golden Land available for use,"

The witch understood. This being was created by hers and Battler's belief, because they continued to believe even though they had come to know the truth. She was here to bring their family out of the Golden Land of the world created just for her.

"I promise you, I am not here to trick you or force you into anything,"

"I understand," she answered. There seemed to be reluctance in her, anyways. "What will happen with them after they're released?"

"After they are released from there, they will go to see Battler-kamisama. What will happen after that, I don't know," she answered the unasked question. "You will lose nothing whether you choose to come with me or not. Are you willing to help me?"

It took more consideration than one might think. She was thinking pretty intensely about it, and that was obvious by the look on her face. Yuuki sensed some of her hesitance may be due to her showing up in this form, but after traveling to this world, she certainly didn't have the energy to change it.

"Is there something I can do to put your mind at ease about my request?"

"Ah…I don't think so," she fiddled with the hair-tie on the right side of her head. "Listen, I have a lot to do today. Is there a chance you can come back later?"

"Yes, of course I can. Please take all the time you need. When you're prepared to speak with me, you should be able to summon me the same way you do the Seven Stakes. I'm sorry for inconveniencing you. If you wish, then please excuse me," and with that, she vanished.

With a sigh, she turned to face the sisters, who were all still loosely formed in a circle. They weren't sure if they should ask what she was going to do, so they waited to be addressed. "Alright," she said; "Now, Beelz, where was I?"

Within a few minutes, jobs had been distributed. Beelzebub was out to locate high-end chefs who might be able to fit in at the school she was building; Belphegor and Leviathan were searching for new teachers; Lucifer and Asmodeus looked for new jobs to locate the old teachers to, and Mammon went with Satan to locate other workers- such as maids, nurses, and nannies for infants or exceptionally young students who may come in. Although Kotobuki was technically able to find such people, it would be much easier for the sisters, who could sense the level of anti-magic toxin in a person. She needed those toxin levels to be as low as possible. Because she had become such a capable witch, her power would allow the seven of them to manifest even miles away from her, though they probably couldn't go that far without being transported back to her home. After the seven of them scattered, the only one left was Sakutaro.

"What are you going to do for the rest of the day?" he asked; "Do you want to play a game and have fun?" for the most part, his specialty was having fun.

"Aha, it depends on what you mean by 'fun,'"

"Anything can be fun~"

"I thought you might say that," she stacked a few papers together and reached for a book-bag. There was a knock at the door. Who could that be? Well, they didn't wait. She heard the door unlock, and in came... "Wha-?! Amakusa?!"

"Ah, yeah. Something wrong, oujo?"

"I thought you were asleep," he slept in a second bedroom; since he wasn't around when she got up, Kotobuki assumed he was still in there sleeping.

He grinned. "Nah,"

"Well, I have to g-" she stopped there, because something felt out of place. Even her loud-mouthed body guard noticed.

"I'm not one to give fashion advice…but…in your pajamas?"

"…gah…" it was already after noon, and her classes started at one. Well, changing didn't have to take that long. She darted back up the stairs to get her clothes on, without even asking him what he was out doing for the last three and a half hours. He brought in the stuff he had picked up while he waited for her to come back down. Printer ink, a stack of notebooks, and packages of pens…oh, hey, he left the wrapper from his candy bar in here. Still nothing that would have taken him that long. In another bag there was a sketch pad and a couple of books.

"Okay, I'm ready!" she nearly tripped down the stairs and grabbed her book bag.

"Alright," he replied, deciding she'd have to put her things away later.

It wasn't that long ago that she started taking college classes. Once she decided she was going to rebuild the Fukuin house, she realized she would become the principal- and as such, she would need some education training under her belt. Since she was paying everything in cash, no one cared to check out her previous grades, and she was actually doing quite well. It wasn't as difficult as it used to be once she learned how to use her abilities constructively.

"Are you ready for the exam today?"

"Of course I am," she told Amakusa, her eyes wandering to the back seat where Sakutaro sat with a big grin on his face. After all, she was going to have plenty of help.

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The Golden Land was always a cat box in and of itself. Does it exist, or not? If it does, there's a possibility for at least one person to survive. If it doesn't, they are dead for certain. Then, if it does exist, what kind of place is it? Is it even a place that you would want your family to survive? Is it a happy place or just another level of torture? Could it really succeed in keeping that many people alive?

ANGE-Beatrice believed in the best imaginable option. That it was a wonderful place, where her relatives continued to live and have fun until she could find a way to bring them back to her. And perhaps part of her was in there with them, too.

"_Isn't this what you wanted, Ange-chan? To play with all of us forever?" _

"_Didn't we promise to grant whatever wish you had?" _

"_Gohda-san, I know you aren't technically on duty as our personal chef anymore, but…"_

"_Yes! Of course, I would love to make everyone some more cakes!"_

Is the cat inside alive…or dead?

Kotobuki and Battler, in their own respective times, wrote their own story. Battler wrote it to show the distinct possibility that everyone had a happy time on Rokkenjima, and to show Ange what everyone was really like. Kotobuki wrote it because she wanted to share that story; she didn't want to be the only one believing in that happiness.

Doth thou kill the cat?

A Happy Tragedy; it was supposed to be a paradoxical title. But in the end, neither one of them could finish it. The story of Rokkenjima was already news. Thousands of people had already decided what happened. It was taken away from them.

If you don't believe, the miracle won't happen.

The Witch of Truth is a witch who has the power to weave the truth. You could say she became the Witch of Truth because she realized that no single truth exists for the world of Rokkenjima. The truth only existed within the individual worlds themselves, and each truth contained at least two perspectives. That's why Maria could proclaim in red that Beatrice's magic created candy under an over-turned cup.

Is it a sad story? Or a happy story?  
You'll have to decide that for yourself.

It was supposed to be the last family conference. If everything had gone according to plan, it would have been. The Game Master had created an almost impossible world, where Ange would get to come along with the rest of the family. He'd even incorporated the family's meta-knowledge into their consciousness. But then, the game board was taken from them…and the only thing Battler could do to salvage the possibility of a happy story was seal them up inside Beatrice's Golden Land.

The door to the Golden Land will open very soon.

Will the happy tales of Rokkenjima finally be known? Or will the family's joy circle eternally within the Golden Land, existing or not existing according to each person?

"Yuuki, I want you to make me a promise,"

"And what is that?"

"If I let them out of this Golden Land, their next existence will be a happy one. They've been stuck inside everyone else's sad tale for far too long,"

"…That will be no easy task…but…if you choose to lend us your power, we may be able to do it,"

"I will lend you my power. What I'm asking for in exchange is to bring that happy Golden Land to a place that can be seen,"

"I believe it enough to promise you,"

"…alright. Here goes,"

And, with that, the Golden Land of 1986 opened up.


	4. In The Meantime

A/N: I'm starting to become frustrated with this website for constantly taking my line breaks out when I submit something. Apparently, it just edits them and doesn't even consider that I had them there for a reason. *complains*I used to be able to separate them with hyphens, but now it looks like I'll have to use some kind of letter.

Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, and followed for this story so far It really means a lot to have such wonderful feedback. Please continue to enjoy this story.

Chapter 4: In the Meantime

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"_It was Shannon! She strangled Natsuhi in the bedroom and hid her corpse in the closet!" _a string of blue text came pouring out of an intense-looking goat.

"_Van Dine's eleventh! It is absolutely forbidden for a servant to be the criminal!"_ now that there was no true Game Master involved in any games, almost all statements had been taken from red to blue. Only when stating the rules of mystery might they come out red. _"If you want to accuse her, this story becomes a fantasy!"_

"…_augh…"_

The consciousness of the Golden Sorcerer watched as the number of kakeras in the stream multiplied according to the goats' tales. He sighed and looked down. "This is bad," a blue-against-blue competition, where they could only argue possibilities, was sure to last an eternity. What was worse, his powers only had affect over the game board, which was taken from him. "Even if they had the right answer, no one would ever know,"

"It's like the blind leading the blind," responded a voice from behind him. "No one can see where they're going; they'll just fall into a black hole,"

"Haha, yeah," he rubbed the back of his neck. "It's a shame, really. I wanted to share that happy story with everyone…to lay this sad tale to rest, and put a smile on my sister's face," with a self-deprecating chuckle, he added; "I guess it might be my fault,"

"Yes, you're certainly to blame," he was a bit shocked by this; "it's all your fault for wanting to give your family a happy story and cheer up that miserable little sister of yours. You should get down on your knees and beg for forgiveness,"

Ah, she was being sarcastic.

"…I wanted to see Ange-sama smile, too,"

Battler, or so he would still be called, turned around. Standing behind him were all the seven sisters.

"And she was really cute, as a little kid," Beelz giggled; "I could have just eaten her up!"

"Aren't you guys still with her..?"

Mammon nodded. "Of course we are. We'd never desert our precious Ange-sama,"

"It looks like my game did succeed somewhere, then,"

"_Then it was Jessica! When she said she was going to look for her mother, she locked the door and strangled her, hid the body in the closet, and escaped through a hidden passageway!" _

"_Knox's Third! It is forbidden for hidden passages to exist!"_

The seven sisters had never been quieter. Battler sighed.

"Just how much of that story was true?" the question was Belphegor's.

"All of it was true in the context of my game board,"

Lucifer was the next to speak, albeit with some hesitance. "…if that game had gone on as expected, it would have been a very happy ending for her,"

He looked down at the fragment his sister was still living in. "I think it's already brought her some happiness…"

"Does that mean you're giving up, Battler-sama?"

"…ah…" he picked up the box that had all the chess pieces in it, and heaved another sigh.

"_It's me, Ange!  
Dad, mom, and onii-chan- nobody comes back!  
I feel so lonely!  
I beg you,  
Hurry back home!"_

"Of course I'm not going to give up. That game board was my present to Ange. It was taken from both of us," __

"That's right. I'm Ushiromiya Ange, of the world where nobody comes back home…!

No one from my family comes back from Rokkenjima on that day…!  
That witch before you stole all my family away, even my onii-chan!  
Onii-chan is the only one who can defeat her! Defeat her!  
And then, come back to me….!  
And bring back our family!"

"I promised her I would definitely come back, and bring her a souvenir," he grinned. "It's gotta be something worth waiting this long,"

Chess is a game where someone loses. If you want both parties to win, it becomes a draw; however, both parties also simultaneously lose. In this game, there was an even bigger loss than the players' victory; Ange was always the loser. She suffered the punishment for his incompetence. That's why, just once, he wanted her to win. Because, no matter what else happened, he was at least partly responsible for her pain. If everything had gone as planned with his tale, everyone would have made it home safely. But, in the end, their happiness was taken from them and swallowed away… just like Bern wanted. All that remained of it was the never-ending stream of kakeras being created by the goats, and the incomplete game board they were fighting over.

"_Natsuhi committed suicide by strangling herself in the closet!" _

"_Natsuhi did not commit suicide!" _this time, both statements were blue. Red could only be used by someone who knew the truth. As soon as the speaker realized this, they added; _"Why the hell would someone choose to die that way?!"_

"There's only one person who can do this," even Leviathan didn't seem to be complaining right now. Satan wasn't lecturing the others. It was strange to see them like this.

"Yeah, I know," Battler grinned; "the original creator of the game board," in the end, the game board was something he had only played with to carve out a story. He hadn't made it, and as such, didn't have the power to make it again.

In the midst of the eight of them, the girl with Beatrice's form appeared. As she approached, she bowed deeply. "We are getting closer,"

He nodded and patted her head. "That's great news,"

She beamed with pride at his satisfaction.

"Ah…" in the plane of witches, his form began to fade. The chain attaching him to his human form became visible. "It looks like I'm getting ready to wake up," he said, looking over at those he was leaving here. "By the time I open my eyes, I won't remember any of this,"

"Good morning, then," Yuuki smiled at him as he began to vanish.

"Good morning. I'll see you later," the last of him dissipated into a whirlwind of particles.

The sisters all looked at each other. For the seven of them, it was a deafening level of silence, but they knew they needed to stay quiet for Battler's sake. "I wonder how he's going to do it," Belphegor admitted, her arms crossed.

Mammon patted her shoulder. She was visibly confused and a little unnerved by this, as though it was a furious attack. "The head is known for making bizarre claims without any back-up, and then figuring out 'something' when the time comes,"

"In other words," Satan explained; "Battler-sama probably doesn't know, either," with an odd-looking smile, she added; "You should be able to figure that out, by now,"

Mammon looked over the fragment where the grown up Ange (or Kotobuki, if she preferred) resided. "It looks like we should be getting back, too. She's about to wake up,"

"""Yes!""" they immediately perked up. Although the stake of greed was nowhere near Lucifer on the hierarchy, most of the sisters listened to her when it came to Ange.

"Will you forget all of this, too?" Yuuki asked.

"No," she smirked, folding her arms. "We never forgot who you were," the green-haired girl lifted a finger to her lips; "but this is supposed to be a secret, remember? We're not telling her more than we need to until we're ready,"

"Ah," she smiled sheepishly. "I see. Alright. I'm going to keep looking," Yuuki waved as the girls started to disappear inside their fragment, in order from oldest to youngest.

And after they were gone, she vanished as well.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Battler stretched out on his bed until his spine let out a 'pop,' and turned over so he was on his side. He had this strange feeling like he had accomplished something fantastic over-night, but couldn't put his finger on it. Even after this long, he was still living with Akashi, Miko and Nanjo-san. He had no complaints about Nijima; it had just the right activity level for him. The only real problem he had was money. Battler was used to being independent, and had no intention of just taking from them. Unfortunately, no one was interested in the story he wrote, even publishers didn't want to send it out after everyone else had gotten a hold of the Rokkenjima incident.

Why? Why did everyone want to believe they all met such a tragic ending?  
Why did everyone…want to believe they were dead?

He breathed in the morning air and got out of bed. The clock beside him showed 9:30am; Miko and Akashi were definitely gone to work by now, but Nanjo-san was probably still around. He grabbed a notebook off his nightstand and opened the drawer. The gold ingot was still sitting there, and it shone up at him in the light of day. It reminded him of everything he'd been through, and to keep believing for something better. In the meantime, if no one wanted to hear a happy story about Rokkenjima, he would have to write something else. "Before the Clock Runs Out" was his newest idea, which he had started to outline after weeks of searching for a reputable publisher who would take his first story.

When he left the room and made his way downstairs, he realized Nanjo-san wasn't awake yet. That would give him some time to make breakfast; the old woman had a monstrous appetite, and she was terrible at cooking- so the responsibility of cooking fell on Battler's shoulders. At first, he was only good at making basic things like rice and ramen from packages, but they let him borrow some of their cook books, and he got better with cooking things. He tied an apron around his back, and just then, a gentle shuffling of feet crept up behind him.

"It's odd to see you out of bed at this hour," it was Kyrie standing behind him, resting against the counter with her arms folded.

He tried not to look at her. Although his anti-magic toxin levels were virtually non-existent, they sometimes disappeared reflexively when he looked at them. Battler had always thought that his family would come back to him as normal, living people when they were released from the Golden Land, but he was wrong. Locking them inside that sealed room saved them from utter destruction (not just of their bodies; of their souls as well), but it also put them on the same cat-box level of existence. Having no powers in this human form, he couldn't make their existence here definite, so they walked around like ghosts no one else could see. "I could say the same thing about you,"

More of his family members began to show up. His dad, Hideyoshi, Maria, Eva…they surrounded him. He couldn't look directly at them, but just knowing they were here made him happy.

"Battler-sama, may I give you a suggestion?"

"Sure, Gohda-san. I'd love a little help here,"

"If you're going to make a miso soup, the tofu and green vegetables should definitely go in last, especially if you're going to have potatoes and boiled eggs with it,"

"…ah…" he looked at the bowl full of deep-fried tofu and laughed at himself. "That's a rookie mistake," Battler had cut the potatoes and tofu into a single bowl. Now he'd have to separate them. "Thank you, Gohda-san,"

"It's my pleasure. I miss cooking, so for now I'll live vicariously through you," he said, with a good sense of humor.

Of course, his food was much more lavish than a simple miso soup. Battler remembered wishing he could live on Rokkenjima all the time, so he could eat it twenty-four hours a day.

"Now, what'd I tell you, ah?" Hideyoshi grinned. "Battler-kun's grown up and gotten some more independence, just like I said,"

Shannon smiled. "Even from our existence, it smells wonderful,"

"Aha, this?" Battler laughed. "I'm sure it can't compare with what you guys normally eat. I'm surprised you haven't all gotten fat by now,"

"Th-that's not true!" she blushed a little. "I-I mean…everyone starts somewhere, right?"

Gohda nodded his head, but Jessica interjected before he could actually say anything.

"It's because he can't accept a compliment from a woman," she crossed her arms and smirked at him.

George, pushing his glasses up, chimed in along with her. "That's right, Sayo," she blushed as he used her 'real' name in front of the family, though it was only Eva among them who reacted. Even her facial expression digressed, however. "He doesn't get many compliments from women,"

"Hey! What are you guys talking about?!"

"Can that be true?" Shannon naively took what they were saying literally. "Ah, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable,"

"It's not your fault, like I said," he put a hand on her shoulder. "You see, Battler-kun doesn't get much action, anyways,"

"Shut up! I get plenty of action!"

"Yeah, right," Kyrie and Jessica replied at the same time.

The adults laughed. Shannon was still a little confused.

"Battler, I hate to say it," Rudolf rubbed the back of his neck; "but the closest thing you got to any appreciable action in the last six months is playing Mahjong, isn't it?"

"I'm a little disappointed that he's not more like you," Kyrie told her husband. "I was so sure he'd turn out to be a ladies' man like you. Instead, he got my miserable luck,"

"…" he looked at her, puffing smoke out of his cigar without even pulling it out of his mouth. "Don't forget that I was at the end of that miserable luck,"

"In that case, my luck was worse than miserable," she joked, slapping him lightly on the shoulder.

"I don't know what you guys are talking about, but…um…maybe Battler-sama isn't up for any more action,"

"Ahhh, at least I have someone like Shannon-chan who won't ridicule me,"

"Excuse me, Battler-sama?" Gohda tried to grab his attention. "I'm very sorry for interrupting you, but, you don't want to over-boil your soup…"

Now he understood why everything was so difficult for those who embodied both humans and witches. When he was involved with his family, it often slipped his mind that he was in a physical world.

"Thank you, Gohda-san," he reduced the heat on the stove-top and added the rest of the ingredients. "Now, where was I?"

Jessica whispered something in Shannon's ear that made her blush and giggle. "Oh, no, oujo-sama! That's mean!" in spite of saying that, she giggled at his expense. He was just beginning to say something when they all disappeared.

"Kukuku…are all rich people this eccentric?" Nanjo-san inquired as she approached the dining room and sat down in a chair. "How long have you been talking to yourself?"

"…gah…" sweat gathered on one side of his head and dropped down. "Good morning, Nanjo-san. I was just making some soup,"

"I know. I came down because it just smelled so good,"

"Well, there's plenty of it," he said, scooping some into a bowl with a ladle. "Here. Eat up,"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Dubon! Dubon! Dubon!_

The seven sisters appeared in the order that they stepped into the fragment.

"Good morning, Kotobuki-sama!"

"Good morning, everyone," she only looked up from her book for a second.

"Have you eaten already?" Beelzebub asked.

"Ah, yes. I'm working on some homework now,"

"I see!" Mammon looked at the book, skimming pages for information. "What is the homework today?"

"My teacher assigned us an essay on child development, comparing and contrasting Piaget with Erikson,"

The seven of them gathered around, following Mammon's lead. "So, you're making an outline. If it's comparing and contrasting, the professor wants both similarities and differences, right?"

"Right," she nodded. "Pointing out the differences isn't hard, but the similarities…"

"Leave it to us," her best friend patted her shoulder.

"Okay everyone, let's think of how these theories are similar!" the command came from Lucifer.

"""Yes, onee-sama!""" they agreed.

In what seemed to be no time at all, they helped her finish a two-page outline.

"The paper isn't due for another two weeks," she told them as she collected her source books together. "So I can take a break now. Thank you for your help,"

"It's our honor to be satisfactory furniture for you," Belphegor stated.

With a sigh, Kotobuki pulled another book out of her backpack. "Have you girls gotten any closer to finding suitable jobs for the Fukuin House employees?"

"I believe so," Lucifer responded; "Asmo and I found a similar Catholic school in the Kobe district where three teachers have recently given their two-week notice,"

"Did you investigate the reasons why?"

"I did!" Asmodeus raised her hand. "One of them is passed the age to retire and wants to move so he can live the remainder of his life with his kids. Another is quitting because her children are grown and she wants to pursue other opportunities, and another was offered a job as a personal tutor for a higher salary,"

"Sounds reasonable. Who do you think would fit in there?"

"The ones who quit were two math teachers and a literature teacher," the blonde said;

"So we were thinking Ryuugu-san and Enza-san might fit in as math teachers, and Kita-san could take the position of a literature teacher," Lucifer finished.

She nodded. "It would be good if we could send more than one of them to any given place. How's the salary?"

"A teacher with as much experience and background as them will be sure to make at least $5,000 a year more than what they make now,"

"What about the commute?"

"There's a bus that could take them to and from work every day. Also, one of them could fit into a car-pool if they have enough money to pay the drivers for gas,"

"Are there any houses near it that they could move to?"

"There's an apartment that's just opened up approximately ten miles from the school building. There are plenty of rooms there for them to move into,"

With a smile, Kotobuki replied; "Excellent work, girls. We certainly can't ignore this. I'll call the school to set up an interview as soon as I finish this chapter. Hopefully we can get all three in without too much fuss. Belphe and Levia, did you find any teachers who would be suitable?"

Belphegor immediately bowed. "I am ashamed to tell you that our search did not yield such positive results,"

"However, we did find one person who may fit. Her name is Suzuki Izakou. She is educated as a Chemistry teacher, but her anti-magic toxin is stable at three,"

Toxin levels ranged in number from zero to a hundred. An average person had levels ranging from twenty to eighty, but anyone above a 4.2 would be entirely useless to them.

"Three?!" that was a bizarrely low number. "With that number, she's absolutely invaluable. You have not disappointed me," Belphegor stood back up. "Beelzebub, how fortunate were you?"

"I found a chef who worked for twenty years as an executive chef at a five-star restaurant, and ten as a personal chef after the restaurant closed down due to a bad business deal by the CEO. The couple who hired him as a personal chef hired another one on, but they found they didn't need two, so he peacefully resigned. His anti-magic toxin level fluctuates a lot though. The lowest was two and the highest was fifteen,"

"Hmm…it sounds good, but that toxin level worries me. We'll keep an eye on it,"

"Yes, Kotobuki-sama!"

"Mammon, Satan, how was your luck?"

"Forgive us," Mammon responded; "we weren't able to find any qualified people with low enough anti-magic toxin levels to benefit your cause,"

Leviathan pressed her shoulder against Mammon's. "Looks like you're the only ones without anything to offer!"

"It's no problem. None of you girls have disappointed me. You've all had days where you couldn't find something. We'll keep trying tomorrow,"

"""Yes, Kotobuki-sama!"""

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The days of the human world began and ended over and over. Nights begun so quickly that it seemed nothing worth doing could be done over spans of hundreds of years. It wasn't the same, on the plane of witches. They didn't need to sleep; when they did, it was due to boredom. The Golden Sorcerer didn't have time to be bored.

"You still haven't found her, Yuuki?"

"I regret to inform you that I have not,"

"…mm…" Battler rubbed his right temple. Measuring in earth time, it had already been another three weeks.

Leviathan was the first one standing beside her. "You keep failing Battler-sama," she smirked.

"You're making this harder for him!" Satan elbowed her so hard she fell down.

Asmodeus grabbed Lucifer by the arm. "It looks like your friend failed us again, Luci-nee,"

"Wha-what? She isn't my friend!"

Beelzebub jabbed her fingers into the sensitive spot on Lucifer's back. She let out a groan and fell onto her legs.

"Oh, that's right, Luci-nee," Leviathan replied, approaching her. "Yuuki is your friend, isn't she?"

"I…I don't know what you're—"

"Lies!" the green-haired stake of envy kicked that sensitive spot. She fell to the ground with an "Eegh!"

Satan, meanwhile, was still lecturing Yuuki. "You need to stop being so useless! Lift up your head and look at me! Coward!" but she didn't; she was hiding her face in her arms, cowering in the face of wrath. Maybe there was something about being the personification of someone's courage that made you an absolute coward.

"Satan, that's enough," Battler said. "Stop picking on her. That's an order,"

"Ah…yes, Battler-sama," the other girls, busy picking on the oldest, didn't notice. She made her way back to them and chimed in with Lucifer.

"Stupid onee-sama!" she grabbed her hair roughly; "Your cowardice is rubbing off on Battler-sama's precious creation,"

Even Belphegor leaned down and gave her a creepy smile. "You should apologize for being such a bad influence,"

Lucifer growled in pain. "I…I haven't been around her any more than you!"

"…as much I love watching this," the Golden Sorcerer said, not being sarcastic in the least; "it isn't anyone's fault. Yuuki's doing her best. We all knew this would take a while, there's a lot of area to search. The only thing we can do is be patient and wait,"

Satan let go of Lucifer's hair, and Leviathan got off her back.

"Yuuki, keep looking,"

"Yes, sir," again, she vanished from the crowd, leaving just Battler with the seven sisters.

"How is Ange doing?"

"Ange-sama is doing just fine. She used some of her money to have that book published, but not many people are buying it," Mammon answered.

"That's expected. I couldn't even get mine published,"

"I'm sure you'd have enough if you cashed that gold in for some yen,"

"Ihihi, I'm sure I would, but…no can-do, Mammon. That was a gift," being the personification of greed, perhaps she didn't understand its value. But she didn't press him any further than that, and he didn't give any more explanation.

Lucifer recovered just then, and stood up.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Mammon grabbed a piece of paper she'd shoved into her top. "I thought you might want to see this,"

Battler took it. It was folded up, and on the front looked like someone had written 'The happiest day.' "Hm? What is this?"

"It's a picture Ange-sama drew when she was a child. She found it recently and re-drew it,"

The picture came in parts. It started when the boat docked. Based on the date, it was first drawn about a week after the island blew up. He glanced at the picture, where he came off first, followed by their parents. Although he couldn't help but grin, it was all very expected…the whole family, coming off the boat to greet her…until the last page.

"Whoa," he scratched his head. Mammon smiled at him. "I wasn't expecting that,"

"I know,"

"I'm gonna keep this," he slid the paper into his pocket.

"I was hoping you would,"

Battler sat down on a chair, left from when this place was still the game area.

"_Say it in red! 'Eva did not leave her room!'"_

Yeah. Nothing the goats could possibly conjure up would ever match their game.

"Ooh," Asmodeus giggled. "You're missing Beatrice-sama right now, aren't you?"

He chuckled and ruffled his own hair. "Yeah, Asmo. Actually, I'm missing everyone right now. Ronove, Beatrice, Ange, Virgilia…"

"Don't worry, Battler-sama! All your dreams will come true if you believe in them,"

"You're right. That's why it's not a dream. It's a decision," he sat back in his chair. "And it's nice to have my family around again. I can't wait to be with Ange again, too," it looked like that may take a while yet, though. "Hey, Beelzebub, how 'bout some snacks?"

"Yes, Battler-sama!"

She never said "no" to snacks. Coincidentally, neither did he.

Ah, getting everyone together might take longer than expected…


	5. Whoo am I?

A/N: *shamelessly references Higurashi*  
I had a hard time getting this chapter going for some reason. My college classes are starting soon, so my next updates may be sporadic.  
Also, for those of you who will complain that Beato is not acting like her usual self, I know. I took inspiration from the way she's portrayed in Episode 8. Towards the end, she bares her more "human" side to Battler. Thank you.

Chapter Five: Whoo…am I?

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In every fragment of a world created, there's a place humans refer to as "the abyss" or "oblivion."

The gods and witches simply call it "the gap" (not to be confused with the Gaap or The Gap), as it is a much more fitting name.

Beneath the ocean, just before you've gone deep enough to reach the sky, is where this place resides.

It is a world within a world, created mostly of illusions.

When a child tires of an imaginary friend, they come to this place. So, too, do the pieces of a game board when a master chooses not to bring them back. Fictional characters, defeated witches, and all supernatural beings who ceased to believe in themselves, came floating down here.

All the gaps are connected, making the relatively small space between the sea and sky endless.

But, just because of that, you shouldn't assume oblivion is a happy place.

In truth, it's rather eerie. It's a place neither cold nor warm. The beings here are as numerous as the grains of sand on every beach in every world. They float around, unable to act of their own conscious will, never once thinking. A supernatural entity who had cursed themselves has no chance of being awoken…unless humans, by believing in them, can rustle them from their sleep- or else, a witch or god pulls them out. As for the imaginary friends, they can revive if called upon by the human who made them.

In this place, there are no sounds and nothing to see. The "waves" of oblivion will slowly pull apart the illusion, until only small particles of it remain. Yet, even so, there is no pain. There are no pleasures and no ailments. Nothing to hear, nothing to say.

You could say the beings who found themselves inside here are neither living…  
…nor dead,  
…but simply…existing.

There is only one way to get there.

Yuuki looked down at the sea. From where she was standing, it looked completely black, only occasionally interrupted by ripples that would eventually become waves. She took a deep breath.

This was the only place she could be. And this was the only way to experience her purpose for being.

She closed her eyes, and jumped off the cliff she'd been standing on. Hopefully, she'd find the one she was looking for.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As expected, time kept passing. The seasons changed; February's winter turned to April's spring. Of course, there wasn't much snow or cold to speak of on the island of Nijima. Battler finished his newest literary creation, and once it was fixed by an editor, he managed to get it published without too much fuss. It didn't do so well at first, but after a little bit of simple bookstore advertising, it started to get more and more popular. He finally made up enough money to pay the family back for what they provided him, and start rationing out to pay his own costs.

And all that over a story inspired by the game board. He'd have to thank Beato for this. 200 pages in just a few months might sound almost impossible, but after having to work as the Game Master in her time constraints, it was easy for him. Battler kept writing under his pseudonym, each time strengthening his courage and his inner Game Master.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The seasons Kotobuki suffered through the worst were summer and fall. When the seasons changed around winter and spring, the illnesses she experienced as a child were invisible. Even the Seven Sisters had their hands full for the first weeks of the others, though.

In this case, April's spring was turning into June's summer. Her illness mocked that of a stomach bug, if she didn't already know she was sensitive to this, she would have thought it was something like that.

"Kotobuki-sama," Mammon sat beside her on the bed, where she'd been napping. "You wanted me to wake you up, now. The ceremony is in an hour,"

She opened her eyes. "Ah…yeah…"

Okonogi was planning a ceremony to give the Fukuin house to her. She hadn't finished her education yet, but she would officially own the school. For now, she'd have to keep the principal around.

"I'll get up now. Thanks, Mammon,"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In the normal world, how long had it been? Six months? Seven?

Seven months of searching for the creator of the game board in a place of total darkness.

There was no point in calling out. No one would answer. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she began to see particles drifting about weightlessly. It was incredibly creepy, almost like swimming through someone else's urn.

Ugh. What a thought.

There was no ground left to stand on, so she found herself hovering and getting pulled away by humid air. Finding any specific object or person could take an eternity…but, she was created by the Sorcerer of Miracles. This should be a piece of cake- if only she knew how to search for someone to begin with.

Using some concentration, she directed herself apart from the pulling motion of this place.

There was so much moisture in the air that rivulets of water were streaming down her body, soaking into her clothes.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something strange. A tiny particle drifting about would not be unusual, but this one sparkled. Just for a second, it sparkled. Yuuki directed herself towards it against the conflicting currents, struggling to over-come the one that pulled her in the opposite direction. Finally, it released its grip and launched her in that direction.

As she approached the particle, she realized she had only been seeing it from a distance, and it was not a simple particle at all. What she saw was…a rose petal.

A golden rose petal. A single, whole rose petal, which had not been pulled apart.

Miraculous. She reached out and grabbed it. As she opened her fist, the petal transformed into a heart. A golden, beating heart. Yuuki smiled.

"_Come now, try to remember. What kind of form did you have? Surely it was a very lovely form," _the power Battler loaned her was the only power that might work. _"Remember the joy it brought you," _a whirlwind of particles gathered around it, situating themselves. _"Remember the happiness, remember the sadness, remember the anger…" _after all, all emotions…all figures of the heart…were important. She let go of it as the body began to solidify. _"…and most of all, remember the love," _the last of the fabric that made her up settled upon the body. Before her stood a woman who could be her twin, covered in the long coat that once belonged to Battler.

She didn't open her eyes, but she attempted to speak. "Ba…t…" Yuuki understood; she was trying to say "Battler."

"Not quite," she grabbed the witch's hand.

Evidently noticing that this was no Battler's hand, although she could sense his magic, she tried again. "Tea..cher…?"

"Open your eyes,"

With a soft hum that seemed to ask "Why bother?", she opened her eyes. Strangely enough, there was a small amount of light. It was just enough to see the person in front of her. She didn't seem quite awake. "…M…e..?" was this some weird sort of hell? Or purgatory? Or punishment?

"No, I am not you. I've only borrowed your form for a while," she seemed exhausted, even though she had done nothing but float around in a void for seven months.

With tired eyes, she looked Yuuki up and down, though her eyes became fixated on her legs and she couldn't focus enough to move them. She was clearly confused. After throwing herself into the water, she should either be dead or torn apart by the abyss. So…why was she here? And who was this person? She wondered, but could not get herself to say it. It was like being woken up from the deepest sleep, a deeper sleep than any human ever experienced.

"Don't worry; you're not in trouble,"

Trying to nod was like working against paralysis, but she managed.

"Come with me. I'll talk to you and let you wake up for a while,"

Again, she nodded. Yuuki pulled her by the hand as she directed herself, trying to find an entrance into the plane of witches rather than going for the darkest depths of the ocean and waiting to reach the top.

"I guess, if I'm going to talk, I'm pressed for topics," she admitted. There wasn't much around here to even talk about. "So…perhaps I'll tell you about myself," even though it was a bit arrogant to assume someone would be that interested in you after just meeting them, she said this. "I'm sure you have questions. Maybe I can answer some before you ask," the only response she got was a rapid blinking of eyes. Fingers on the hand that were not joined with Yuuki's began to twitch as she tried to move them. "Hm. Let's see. My name is Yuuki, at least for now. I am a creation of Battler-kamisama and Ange-kamisama, after they were inspired by you to believe," there were few things that let her know the witch was able to understand, but those few things were enough. She noticed that she was moving as much as she could, her arms twitching slightly, as though she were trying to wake up. That would be...perfectly understandable. After all, even Dlanor has thought, "This being is dead." The thing she probably didn't know was that it was a death of existence, rather than a physical death. Or perhaps she knew, but the odds of her coming back were so low…

…you'd have to rely on a miracle to bring her back.

It's sort of like…Santa Clause. When a child is told that Santa Clause will visit their house with presents, they believe it. Sometimes, they even stay up all night to try to catch him in the act- but usually end up falling asleep before they can see their parents putting everything under the tree. If one's parents, however, say "There is no Santa Clause. We are putting the presents under the tree," there is very little chance that the kid will keep believing. This is sort of like that.  
Or, well, not quite. This is more like, a kid stays up late enough to see his parents put the presents under the tree. He sees that these boxes are all labeled "from Santa." No one came down the chimney. His dad ate the cookies, mom drank the milk. He saw it with his own two eyes. There is absolutely no way he will ever believe in Santa Clause again, unless he discounts what he saw as a dream…or else, is seriously brain damaged.  
"Santa Clause" is dead to that kid. And not just dead. Gone, forever and a day. Lying on the floor with his guts exposed.

Even so…that kid…still believes in Santa.  
Maybe it's more like this: That child didn't even believe in Santa until after he saw his own parents putting the presents under the tree.  
It's contradictory, isn't it?  
That's why it's so unlikely that someone who experienced "death of existence" would ever come back.  
You might even say…it's _impossible_…

"It's easy enough to say I was created by them," she decided not to bore her with the long details of her existence. "After the end of the last game, your witch-consciousness collided with your piece, so you ended up in the abyss instead of a watery grave," a forced sound that might have been intended as an 'uh-huh' squeaked out of her. It sounded more like strained gasps for air, but there was plenty here to breathe if what she needed was oxygen. "It's a good thing, too. I don't know how the odds were that you'd be able to do that after being thrown back into a corporeal body, but I'm sure they don't look good. Then there's the chance of you being here, and me finding you right at that moment…that number must be small,"

"Uh…hn…uh…" she struggled to move her jaw. Yuuki smiled at her.

"I wish I knew exactly what questions you have, but I won't ask you to try to say them right now," now, where was that exit? Battler would want to see her as soon as possible. "Ah, so, what else should I say? Hm…" she thought a moment. "Oh! Right, that's something you might want to know. Battler-kamisama is trying to write another story, for him and everybody else," the breathy sound of a strained squeak let her know she was at least paying attention; whether she was protesting or agreeing remained a secret. In spite of her general inability to actually form words, Yuuki could tell she was "coming to," identifying little tics in the solidified body. "I know the last one was supposed to be the final, last game, but…it didn't come out the way we were hoping. We thought releasing the family from the Golden Land would restore everything, but that's not how it worked. Now, we need a new game board,"

"G…hah…" the desire to make a verbal response became more urgent, expressed by the look on her face.

"…maybe I should stop talking," she tried to tighten her grip around Yuuki's hand, but all that happened was a small flex of her hand. "Huh?" why wasn't she given the power to read minds? "Ah, let's see…I ended that with how we need a game board, right? Is that what you're responding to?" she took the small flex against her hand as a 'Yes.' "Well, is it because you don't have your powers anymore? Squeeze my hand for 'yes,' blink for 'no,'" her hand flexed a little longer this time, then shook as it opened. "We know. Neither does Battler-kamisama. His only great power right now is traveling to the plane of witches while his chess piece sleeps," the response was a soft "coo." She would probably be wondering what exactly she was supposed to do, in that case. "Ange-kamisama figured out the composition formula for your compendium of magic, and achieved the right to use the magic you created. But she is not the creator of the game board. Only the original creator can help us make a new one," using her free hand, she patted the other girl's head. Blue eyes began regaining life to them, pupils becoming visible, and she seemed to react to a tactile sensation. "You will have to discover the composition formula. If you do, you and Battler both will receive the power you created. It will no longer be tied to the game board,"

"Ah…huh…" she nodded, this time a much fuller nod. The paralysis effect was wearing off. Yuuki grinned, giggling happily.

"I found you! I can't believe I finally did it!" the excitement from before must have been coming out. "Ah, it's like meeting a celebrity for the very first time!" she lightly tugged a strand of her hair, showing the perfect resemblance she had used as her form.

"W…hat…?" the gravity was loosening up, indicating that they were near the plane of witches.

"Oh, I see, you don't know what I'm talking about," she blinked. "Well, like I said, Battler-kamisama made me, but he didn't realize it when he did it. After he got on land, he kept going to the creation space, but he couldn't remember anything when he came out. He made me so we could make his vision of a happy world materialize. I took on your form and started showing myself to him as much as I could, to make him stronger," perhaps this was a rambling explanation. "The more he saw me, the stronger his belief got, and the stronger I became- until I became strong enough to visit Ange-kamisama in her world, and bring you out from this abyss,"

"..m.e…?"

"Yes, you," Yuuki gave her a broad grin. "You were the one who taught him to believe. So I took on your form to make him remember, and keep him from the fate that normally awaits him in these worlds. If he had gotten hit by a truck, he wouldn't be able to create this miracle,"

Right about then, something slightly strange happened. Tears welled in to the witch's eyes, and a single one fell down. Her face didn't move much; she didn't even blink.

"Hm…me…?"

"What's the matter? Did I say something wrong?"

"A...f…ter…e…ve…ry..th…ing…?"

"Because of everything,"

She was trying not to get emotional. It was a bad look, for the Golden Witch, who was supposed to be known for her cruelty. At the moment, though, no such thing was happening. She was tearing up anyways. To hide it, she covered her face with her free arm.

Yuuki couldn't put words on the reason she was crying, but even so, she sort of understood.

A few moments of relative silence passed between the two of them. When the sinking gravity of the abyss faded away, she realized they had finally reached the plane of witches. Infinite seas of kakeras floated by their eyes, reflecting small amounts of light. It was much easier to move here, and it felt free to breathe. The pressure was gone. Both of them stood there, soaked from the wet air. Yuuki guided her to the small amount of the meta-world that still existed, and picked up the fragment for the world Battler was in.

"It's night time. Why don't we find out what he's up to?" she brought the fragment to her. "You can just look inside,"

Drying her eyes, she complied, and glanced down into the world after the last game.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Happy Birthday, Battler-kun!" Hideyoshi patted his nephew's shoulder.

"Ah, thanks, Hideyoshi-ojisan," it was nearly midnight. Everyone else in the Nanjo household had gone to bed by now; Battler was the only one still awake, sitting at the kitchen table with a notebook he was writing in.

"Too bad we can't give you anything," Kyrie commented.

"Aha, you don't have to get me anything. It's enough just to have you guys here,"

"Uuu! I know!" Maria piped up. "If we can't give Battler presents, let's play a game with him!"

"What exactly do you mean, Maria?" Rosa asked. Equally curious, Natsuhi looked at her.

"We'll make ourselves like presents. Except since we can't wrap ourselves up, we'll have to cover his eyes," she made her way towards Battler and put her hands over his eyes. "Now he has to guess what the present is, like you do when you look at a gift,"

"I see," said Battler; "so, right now, my gift is Maria-chan,"

"Uu! Very good!" she took her hands off his face and gave him a hug from behind. "Now, everyone!"

There were some giggles from everyone, but they agreed. "It sounds like a good idea," Natsuhi nodded.

And, just like that, the little game got going. One by one, each family member came up behind him, covering his eyes to see if he could guess who they were. Eva, Rosa, Jessica, Krauss- everyone joined in. Some of them even came around twice, to see if he could guess who they were each time. The game lasted well past midnight, until a little after one AM. At that point, he was much too tired to stay awake.

"Sorry, guys," he closed his notebook. "I'm too tired to stay up anymore,"

"Uuu! That's okay! It's late, so you should sleep," Maria floated above his head and patted it.

"That was enough fun for tonight," Natsuhi agreed.

"No problem at all. Goodnight, Battler-sama,"

Kanon nodded.

"We'll see ya' later, Battler-kun," Hideyoshi patted his back.

With that, they all disappeared.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hm…" Yuuki took the fragment and placed it back in the sea of kakeras. "That gives me an idea,"

By now, the water had dried from where it soaked the both of them. It left the "twins" with frizzy, tangled hair. The comatose girl had now mostly woken up, enough to walk and talk without difficulty, though she was still a bit disoriented. It was like moving into a different time-zone.

"Battler-kamisama is going to sleep. He'll be here any minute. Let's hide," she giggled, pulling her away, out of sight range. Right around that time, the Seven Sisters from Ange's world showed up. They chatted amongst themselves about the day they had; from what Yuuki could hear, Ange was taking a summer vacation from classes and had finished a plan for renovating the Fukuin house.

"Hey, guys," Battler showed up. Immediately, he sat down in the chair left over from the original fight. "I'm a bit late tonight,"

"So are we," Asmodeus admitted. "Kotobuki-sama had us working a lot today,"

Yuuki guided the other girl out from where they were hiding, slowly floating and nearing Battler. Some of the sisters noticed her, but she put a finger to her lip, and they returned to what they were doing.

A pair of hands wrapped around his eyes, blinding him. Battler jumped, not expecting it. "Huh? What is it? Someone wants to play?"

She moved her face closer to his ear. "Whoo…am I?"

His eyes widened from inside her hands, and a grin broke out across his face.

"Beato!"


	6. Compendium of Magic

A/N: Hope everything is going okay for everyone so far. I've been trying to decide on a good way to do this. I feel like, whatever theory I apply in the coming chapters, there will be some big debate. I don't believe the ShKannonTrice story, but it's fun to think about. Yet, the other theories out there are also bound to be painfully controversial (and I don't agree with them 100%, either). I also think my theory is going to be incredibly controversial, seeing as I'm "a Rule Z person" (that appears to be a bad thing). I want to keep the conflict level down and just write an enjoyable story.

As a side-note, it seems some of you readers might have gotten a little confused with my last chapter. If you haven't abandoned me, I'd like to correct and confusion or misconceptions you may have. Please feel free to ask me directly, and I'm sorry for not being competent enough to thoroughly explain it to everyone in context.

Chapter Six: Compendium of Magic

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

She smirked from behind him, holding her hands firmly against his eyeballs.

"Liars are the worst kind of humans, you know? I should have your eyeballs gouged out,"

Battler broke out of the grasp of her hands and turned around. Behind him stood Beatrice, told apart from Yuuki only by the fact that her hair was down and that characteristic smirk.

"Long time, no see," was his only response as he gave her a hug.

"Goh-!" she clearly wasn't expecting this sort of reaction. "Sentimental reunions like this are no good, no good at all!" Beato squirmed.

"It's useless! It's all useless!" he pulled away and patted her head. "Ihihi, it's useless to resist!"

"Y-you shouldn't treat me so lightly, you know! I'm the Infinite Witch! I control legions of demons! I could have you killed this instant- this instant! Do you hear me?!"

Battler wasn't sure if she was kidding or not, but he laughed anyways. She probably was. "Looks like you're feeling better than ever. That's what happens when children take naps,"

"By the way," she said, picking Yuuki up by the dress; "what is this? I'm gone a few months and you're making furniture?"

Yuki sweated and smiled sheepishly, letting out an awkward "Ha ha."

"I wouldn't complain. She helped me wake you up,"

She dropped the identical person. "You think of me as a child, but I'm really more like a teenager. I'll be cranky if you wake me up too early,"

"You've been sleeping for ten months, Rumplestiltskin. Besides, it's always too early for teenagers," with a smirk, he added; "Maybe that's why you're always cranky,"

"Oh-!" she puffed out her cheeks and pouted.

Right about then, the Seven Sisters decided to make themselves known again.

"Aww!" Asmodeus cooed at the two of them with a grin on her face. "Even Beatrice-sama has a prince charming!"

"Wha-wha-?!" her eyes got wide in slight shock. "I'd hardly call Battler a prince! He's more like a toad!"

The next one to speak was Leviathan. "I'm so jealous!" the green-haired furniture folded her arms in a huff.

Beatrice looked at Battler with a sigh. The girls had startled her when they came out of their hiding places; they had been invisible the entire time she was there.

"It's good to see you again, Beatrice-sama," Belphegor spoke more quietly than the rest of the girls.

"Yes, it's been a while, hasn't it?" she didn't break character quite yet, her expression still neutral, as though she were stating facts. "I'm sure you've all been bored. Can someone like Battler actually keep you company?"

"Wha-?!" what was this? Universal 'pick on Battler day?!' "H-hey, I've kept them entertained enough! Right, girls?" he added the last part a little sheepishly, as though this were actually some sort of competition.

"Ah, he was fine company," Mammon grinned; "but, I am bored. I haven't gotten to gouge anything in a very long time," she sighed. Neither Ange nor Battler had any use for them to stab or gouge or grind anything. It was something they were all so used to, it was hard to adjust.

"Battler-sama always has good food for snacks!" Beelzebub smiled and giggled. "So, I'm happy!"

"I see. So maybe even someone and incompetent as Battler can keep my furniture company,"

"I-I'm not incompetent!" he responded, a little shaky, by the look on his face. He looked embarrassed.

"You are incompetent," she told him, with a sigh. There was no more red text for her to be able to use, so it had to come out like that. Red text; she missed the red text. The red and blue battles. The golden truths.

And, speaking of that, there was something the two of them still needed to discuss. Both of them knew it, and both of them were waiting for the other to initiate it. "Girls, Battler and I need to chat alone,"

"""Yes, Beatrice-sama!""" they agreed in unison.

"We will leave you two love birds to talk in peace," Asmodeus winked, disappearing into thin air.

"""Please excuse us!""" the rest chimed in, disappearing randomly until none were left.

As the last one left them, Battler smirked. "And Then There Were None,"

Beato nodded. "I suppose the two of us have something to discuss," she said, taking a second seat that was left over from the Meta-battle. "It looks like I'll be the one to start it,"

Battler was fully aware that the two of them needed to talk about what was going on, yet, he wasn't sure what exactly there was to say. He had pulled her out from the abyss, and needed her help to finish the job he started. There wasn't much else to the story, unless she wanted to know something. "Go ahead. I'll hear you out,"

She was uncertain of what to say. Staying "in-character" would be difficult now; she grabbed the hem of her dress. "I heard a little bit about what's going on…on my way up,"

He nodded.

She'd really rather be bickering and mocking him. Sitting back in the chair, she finally said; "I don't have any more power than you do right now,"

"Well, I figured that,"

Beatrice frowned. He wasn't getting it, the thick-headed bastard. "What I mean is…" she poked her pointer fingers together and puffed out her cheeks. "You don't need me…to do what you want…" ah, all of Battler's sentimental crap must have rubbed off on her.

"It's your magic," he responded casually. "If anyone should be able to tap into it, it's you,"

"…your sister has already tapped into it,"

"Ah, yeah, from the future," he nodded again. "I suppose she could help me, but then our powers would be tied to her,"

"… … …'our' powers…?"

"Well, okay, I guess it's fair enough. Your powers,"

He was completely oblivious. Ah, damn. Putting her more human side out there was getting uncomfortable. "I'm beginning to think you're hopeless,"

"Hm? What are you talking about?"

She grimaced, her head lowering slightly on her shoulders in a mix of irritation, a mocking sense of humor towards Battler, and possibly some sadness. "I don't know if you've noticed, but 'the Golden Witch' is kind of…a 'has been.' Maybe…more like a 'never was.' I shouldn't even be considered to 'exist' at all right now,"

Battler looked up, and pointed in the same general direction. The blonde, taking the hint, looked up as well. Immediately, she was shocked to see a thunderous blue-text battle over an incomplete Game Board. How could she not hear it, after all this time sitting here? Of course, after the way their last game ended, she knew something like this would probably happen.

"Do you know how many people have tried, and failed, to refute the Golden Witch?"

Her eyes still fixated above, she blinked slowly.

"There are more people who have failed than there are stars in the sky," he was probably exaggerating, but she felt like he was making a point. "Not one person, aside from those who were there, has been able to crack the code of the Golden Witch since the first game you challenged me to, and the last ten months are no different. Every time they come up with a theory, they get eaten alive by their own reasoning,"

Beatrice, realizing this was a perfect opportunity to switch back to her typical self, crossed her right leg over her left and smirked at him. It was the sort of look that made him wonder if she wasn't just playing some "sweet, innocent human" card the entire time, although he couldn't think of a legitimate reason why she'd do that. "Are you telling me that every human on the planet is ridiculously stupid?" with that, she let out her typical cackle. "And here I thought I just got lucky with you!"

He gave her a proud, somewhat cynical grin in response. "It's not enough to believe you don't exist. They have to be able to make you disappear," Battler folded his arms as he explained. "When Bern had you killed off, it was done under false pretenses. They refused to play by the rules- or, actually…I'll say that they applied the rules so harshly that it gave them a way out of playing fair…if that even makes sense,"

"It's like being a lawyer," she nodded. "They don't care whether or not their client actually committed the crime and deserves to be punished in a legal court; they only care that they can put together a believable case and make money. For that, they can twist and alter the meaning of certain legal clauses to their own benefit,"

"Yes, exactly. That's a good way of putting it," chuckling, he added; "You should feel honored. Even the first Witch of Miracles couldn't refute you if you had been standing on equal ground. In other words, the Golden Witch has never been properly defeated, so you are able to 'exist…' as am I,"

Beatrice alternated between watching the scene above and looking at Battler as he spoke. This should have been expected, but even so, she was shocked, proud, and…maybe even disheartened. So…even if her story was told to millions of people…not one may understand it. As though he sensed what she was thinking, the red-head spoke;

"Try not to think too badly of them. The only Red Truth they have is tied to the rules, and those only come out red about half the time. They don't have anyone who knows the truth to compare their theories with,"

She looked at him directly. For a moment, her face was innocently neutral, but she quickly broke into a wicked grin. "Ahahaha! You're an interesting sorcerer," of course, Beato wasn't going to openly admit that he had caught on to how she was feeling. It was one of his 'light-bulb' moments. "To think I'd be that concerned with the thoughts of humans,"

He responded with an understanding smile, knowing it was something she felt compelled to say for the sake of saving face. In that case, he decided he'd just play along for now. "It must be that arrogant human in me. We tend to assume that everything in the cosmos exists for our benefit,"

Her eyes widened slightly. Then, her expression turned to a pout. "It's no fun if you give up that easily, you know,"

He wasn't quite sure how to proceed, but she said something else before he had to worry about it.

"There's something else I'd like to know, Battler," her voice took on the obnoxious, edgy tone she always had when jabbing at him. "Whose ass did you have to kiss to pull me out of oblivion?"

…perhaps, to a normal person, that would have been worded like this: "How did you believe in me enough to pull me out of oblivion, when you already knew the truth?"

"No one's," he replied. "I did it all on my own," Battler's expression was a wicked, mischievous grin; "so if anyone's kissing someone's ass, it'll be you kissing mine!"

This was the dynamic they were adjusted to. Even without the colored texts and the game board and all the pieces, and even though no one had managed to defeat her in a fair fight; even though she had no real powers right now…she was happy to be back to it. Maybe it could be a good thing that no one had managed to perceive her. "Ahahahahaha! Amusing! You're just as entertaining as ever,"

The fun almost won, but Battler realized they were going nowhere with this, and they were going there at the speed of light. He stopped himself from saying anything else in response. Beato, noticing the change in mood, seemed to also change accordingly after a moment.

"…I see," she said, resting her head in one of her hands. "so, you really want to have that kind of discussion,"

He chuckled at her. "I can't answer your questions like this,"

"Fair enough. Humans may think they have mastered science, but they have yet to master the art of language. I'll tolerate it because I know you're still tied to your vessel,"

"Thank you," this time, his smile was graceful. "Now, to answer your last question- you want to know how on earth I was able to pull you out of that black hole, right?" she didn't say anything, but showed him she was paying attention by looking directly at him. "It's not as difficult as you think it is…although, I was never planning to do it like this,"

The first Golden Witch quirked a brow. "What on earth are you talking about?"

He mumbled and muttered a bit. "I was always planning for you to come back, sure," finally, he found the words; "but I was never planning to bring you out of there like this, or for this reason. If that's somehow upset you, I'm sorry,"

"Human babbling. It was better when you spoke plainly to me, Battler,"

"Is this not plain? I always knew you would come out of the abyss someday, but I didn't expect to be pulling you out to make a new game board,"

It was plain and simple, yet she was still confused. "Are you purposely avoiding the real question here?"

Battler didn't realize until then that he had been sort of skirting the question. "No, but I guess I am. Sorry," he scratched his head lightly. Her irritation lessened. "I'm not sure how to answer it. I shouldn't believe in you…yet, for some reason, it's impossible not to,"

She was still a bit cynical about this, so the only logical next question was; "Are you sure this isn't you selfishly wishing that someone else killed your family?"

He sat back in the chair to stop the dull ache in his shoulders that let him know he had moved in the excited bickering. "It's not like that,"

"Oh? How so?"

"I don't have to believe you killed my family to believe in you,"

The only way to describe her responding emotion was…complete and utter shock.

His smile was that of a jovial, innocent child. "I don't know how else to say it, so- at the inevitable conclusion of sounding like a ridiculous, sentimental sap, here goes," he patted his legs with his hands and took in a deep breath. "Your game, your magic, your story- everything- brought me so much happiness. Even though I was fighting your every move, stupidly thinking I was angry with you, I was happy. I loved the game. I loved your magic. I loved the stories of the Golden Witch. And I still love them, even now," the mischievous Battler from moments before was completely lost, over-taken by this fool who kept speaking to her with his voice. No, they were both the same person, and definitely so. "Once I realized how happy I was, I couldn't wait to share that feeling with everyone. Mom, dad, Jessica, George…Ange," he chuckled in a self-deprecating manner, reflecting on the times he had wished he could invite the entire world to Rokkenjima to indulge in the same fun he had been having the whole time. "But," the happy expression turned sad; "no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't convey that happiness to anyone,"

She wanted to say something, but was feeling too choked up. If she tried to say something now, it would be obvious that she had gotten emotional about what he was saying.

"I'll always believe in the happiness you brought me. And if I believe in that happiness…I guess that means I must believe in you. The more I believe and want to share it, the more real you become, until you can return to life,"

"_You can't love a cat after tearing out its guts,"_ she had heard that somewhere. Wasn't it…kind of true? Beatrice reflected on all the times she had read a mystery novel, and felt completely and totally spoiled by the ending. All the days people spend, pouring themselves into the book, trying to discover the culprit, only to realize that the last page had everything printed in black and white. And, after that, there's not much point in reading the book- at least, not until a few months or years later, when you've forgotten exactly what happened. And, even then, you'll still turn to those final pages and feel the hollow feeling that comes with finishing a story you loved. Yet, it seemed like Battler had done the exact opposite. He had finished the story, and immediately begun to re-read it, loving it more and more with every page. Battler kept on loving the cat after its death, so much so that it came back. Her own chest ached with happiness and she found herself wiping away a few stray tears that came with being that over-joyed.

He reached over and patted her on the arm. She flinched and started to jerk, but stayed there with the honest understanding that she enjoyed it.

"Then, Battler," her voice cracked a little bit, but she continued on in spite of the slight embarrassment. "I have a question for you," he urged her to continue by nodding his head. "Does that…make me a witch?"

"Yes,"

Perhaps, in context of the game, Battler's total and complete submission to her was never what she was looking for. She had never actually wanted him to just say 'I give up! A witch killed my family!' But, that wasn't what was happening right now. He finally acknowledged her as a witch, not because he was selfish or unable to explain what happened, but because she had brought him so much happiness. Magic exists to bring happiness to humans, and witches are dictators of magic.

"You're a splendid witch,"

The usually rough, sarcastic Golden Witch was nowhere to be found behind the sentimental tears. Embarrassed, she tried to cover her face with one arm, thinking somehow that she was keeping him from being able to tell. "I-I thought I was a cruel…" she sniffled; "heartless monster…"

"You thought wrong," he said it with a small laugh, knowing that she was referring to something he'd said long ago. "And I owe you an apology for saying it,"

The muscles in her arm ached, forcing her to put it down in spite of her tear-stained face. Even on a face spilling over with emotion, she tried to smile deviously (although it looked like a pure, childish smile). "Please," her rough voice trembled; "witches aren't bothered by such trivial matters. After…after one-thousand years, you…get used to hearing such slanders,"

Battler, uncertain of exactly what else to do, lightly grabbed her shoulder with the hand closest to her.

"I'm the monster who laughed at hundreds of deaths," she laughed at herself as she said it.

His grip firmed, and his tone of voice became both stern and playful. "Then I'm the demon who smiled along with you,"

"No," this laugh had a markedly more cynical ring to it than her last one. "You're the demon who experienced so much joy that you brought me back,"

"Exactly. A demon and a monster; sounds like we're in the same boat,"

As she sat there, Beatrice briefly remembered the drowning after the end of their last game. She remembered struggling to hold her body down as it tried to float to the surface, the sensation of her lungs filling with fluid, the feeling of the current. All because she didn't think Battler, or anyone else, could have a happy end with her. She had failed to bring magic to the world. Sand ingrained on her face, salt dispersed through her hair. The feeling of her body disappearing washed over her. "Battler, I owe you an apology, too,"

"What for?"

Wiping some tears from her face, she explained; "I'm sorry I made this so difficult for you. I mean, it was certainly a lot of work for you to put together your own furniture and pull me out of an endless back hole,"

A playful grin spread on his face. "Yes," he said; "I guess that makes us even,"

Earth to earth, illusions to illusions. It should mean she was wandering around an endless sea of failed illusions. But, instead, she was here.

"I was pretty heartless towards you the whole time,"

"I killed your family over a billion times, right in front of you," she scoffed. "It's not like I was warm and cuddly," the witch leaned back towards Battler and looked at him. "But, you know…I was sort of hoping…you would bring me back here, somehow," it was true. She vaguely remembered that feeling, as her human body dissipated into the water. Thinking his arms had been around her the whole time, but his heart had probably stopped by now. Gah, thoughts like that were just no good. No good at all! "So, I'm not upset…about that," yeah, 'upset' wasn't quite the word to explain how she was feeling. It was more like confused and guilty. 

"Are you upset about something?"

"Ah…no," there wasn't much to tell him about, though. "So, what was the actual reason you decided to have me woken up? If you knew I have no power?"

"That's actually an easy one. You're the creator of the Game Board, and you created it before you had any actual power of your own. Long story short, I can't make one. And trust me, I've tried. I just can't make a board for those two days in Rokkenjima,"

Beatrice laughed, but it wasn't her usual cackle. It was much softer and gentler. This time, she looked up, and pointed. He followed the hint with his gaze. "There was only one Game Board for that world," she told him simply. "You can't have two boards over the same world. That's why you can't make one,"

Their gazes leveled back at each other. "Yeah," Battler rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess that makes sense,"

She took note of the slight despair that came across his face, and responded by raising her head with a sinister smirk. "Now, now, Battler!" she jabbed at him. "What's that look for?"

"Only one Game Board for the world," he sighed. "I guess that puts me in checkmate,"

She cackled. "Even after all this time, you can be put into checkmate so easily? You built your own furniture purely with your own mortal power, had the power to use her to pull me out of oblivion, and even had the ability to keep my advanced furniture…well, semi-entertained while I was away. We are the Golden and Endless Witch. And you tell me you've been put in checkmate?"

The chain connecting him to his human body became visible. Now that he thought about it, he had probably slept in. Time up here always seemed to pass much faster than time on earth. "Heh," the despairing look turned to a grin. "Yeah, you're right,"

Beato was a bit confused by the sudden appearance around his arm. The expression on her face was enough to convey that.

"I'm still tied to my piece," he explained. "This will take me back when I start waking up,"

She nodded.

"Hey, before I go," he got out of the chair and stood directly in front of her. Then, Battler grabbed her hand, and pulled her to her feet. "Thank you,"

"… … have I…done something to be thanked for..?"

"Of course," he said, his form beginning to phase out. "I'll see you tonight, Beato,"

She didn't have time to respond; he was gone before the hug even ended. Startled by the sudden disappearance, she put her arms down and straightened up. "Girls, you can come out now,"

_Dubon! Dubon! Dubon! _Satan was the first to show herself, followed by Beelzebub, Lucifer, Belphegor, Leviathan, Asmodeus, and finally Mammon.

"Beatrice-sama, we're sorry for eavesdrop-"

"Save it, Lucifer," the oldest sister was startled and a bit frightened by her response. "Thank you for being quiet so we could talk. I don't want to hear a word about what just happened from any of you unless I ask for it, understand?"

"""Yes, Beatrice-sama!"""

"Good. I know you girls have work to do today, so you'd better get going. Your master may get lonely,"

Mammon was the only one unshaken by her obviously permissive attitude about Ange becoming their master. "Thank you for understanding," she smiled, disappearing wordlessly into the fragment. The other girls followed suit.

"""Thank you for understanding!""" they raised their arms so they were slightly bent over the front of their waists. """Please excuse us!""" one by one, the remaining six disappeared into the fragment where Kotobuki lived.

It got quiet all of a sudden. Beatrice looked around. Now that it was quiet and she wasn't taken in by conversation, she could hear the battles going on up above her.

"_Kanon is the culprit! He wasn't really dead in the parlor; he came back and killed Hideyoshi!"_

"_Kanon is dead!" _the text was blue, and frustratingly so. The goat let out a growling sound. _"Kanon can't even carry fertilizer, do you really think he could bring down a full grown man in the presence of someone who knows all the martial arts in-depth?!"_

Beatrice sighed, looking downwards. "I suppose those humans never did understand," she said. "Battler's furniture…ah," she had a name, right? Didn't she introduce herself? Well, anyways, she didn't have to wait long for a response. Her own voice answered her.

"My name is Yuuki, Beatrice-sama!"

"I see. It seems I forgot,"

"Don't worry about it! I'm sorry it took me so long, but I left during your conversation with Battler-kamisama,"

Unlike the other girls, it seemed like she had actually left, so she probably didn't know what was going on.

"Is there something I can help you with?"

Beatrice nodded. "Yes. I want someone to keep me company. Being by yourself can get boring after a while,"

"I'd be honored to be company for you!" she floated towards her. "What would you like to do?"

She grinned. "Well, if I'm going to be around, perhaps we should change your form. There is only one Beatrice, and I don't need a twin," Yuuki looked a little sad by that. "Ah, I guess I've hurt you," she said, her kiseru appearing in her right hand. She took a puff of it. "That didn't come out the way I meant. Actually, I'm grateful to you…Yuuki,"

"Have I done something to be thanked for?"

"Of course," she nodded, turning her head away to look at something else. "For using my form to help Battler, and for pulling me out of the abyss. I thank you for that," Yuuki grinned broadly at her, eyes glowing. "Ah, perhaps I've rambled,"

"No, it's not a problem. I-I'm honored to have been of service to you…and Battler-kamisama," she blushed. "But, you're right. Perhaps I should take a new form. If I look exactly like you, things could get terribly inconvenient,"

"I'm glad you understand. So, let's see, what kind of form should you have?" she looked the girl up and down.

"Whatever form suits you and Battler-kamisama is good enough for me,"

That wasn't much of an answer, but it was enough. "You don't seem like a child, but you're not an adult either," she muttered, taking glances of her from all angles, as though that was going to provide some wonderful insight. "More child than adult though, so…hm…a young teenager. A pre-teen," yes, that fit her perfectly. Hopeful and naïve, teetering on the edge of life's precipices. It fit her personality perfectly. She grabbed a paper that was floating around and started to scribble on it. A young girl, with relatively large, crystal blue eyes…hair parted to the right, with light curls around her shoulders…hm, what color should it be? Beatrice looked back over at her doppelganger. She stood there, obliviously staring back, and trying not to make noise. "What color fits your hair? Blue, to match your eyes? Perhaps green?"

"…um….um…." she squirmed uncomfortably. "M…maybe…purple..?"

"Purple…yes, that's a nice color," she wrote it down. Since she had nothing to color it with, that would have to do for now. "Hm, now for clothes…a skirt, I think," she scribbled some more; "perhaps a light sweater over a blouse, and a blue ascot," quickly finishing up the drawing, she showed it to Yuuki. "What do you think, then, furniture? Normally I'd just change you myself, but you are not my creation,"

She grinned. "It's lovely. Here," her body washed over in white light, and gradually shrunk down. Her hair grew down to the center of her back, taking on the curls Beatrice had given her. Once it was done, she solidified, and color washed up her form from bottom to top. "Is this right, Beatrice-sama?"

"That's amazing. Even as furniture, you can change your own form,"

Yuuki nodded. "Yes. It only takes the power of imagination,"

"I see, Battler has made a very sophisticated helper. You have earned my admiration, as has he. You should be proud,"

"Yes, Beatrice-sama!" she decided to hold onto the picture as a first portrait. "What shall we do now?"

"Well…" she took another puff of smoke from the kiseru. "…perhaps I could use a sophisticated helper to talk to," again, she seated herself on one of the remaining chairs, and motioned for the other one. "Come sit down,"

"Yes," she agreed, taking a seat obediently.

"It looks like Battler has…hit a brick wall, so to speak," Yuuki was confused by the metaphor, but she understood that it was a metaphor so she didn't interrupt. "It's unfortunate. The rule is that only one Game Board can exist per world. I may be the Endless Witch, but I can't change the gods' rules," this may end up turning into a monologue rather than a conversation, but it helped to get her thoughts out. "But….I'm not going to let him down. I want to figure out a way to change this circumstance,"

As that last thought came out of her mouth, Yuuki spoke up. "So, you're saying that one world equals one Game Board, and that's already complete..?"

"Yes,"

"Then, in order for another board to exist, there has to be another world,"

It was an obvious statement, or at least, it should have been. But, when she put it that way, it made sense in Beato's mind. She grinned. "That's…exactly right, Yuuki," with that, it came together in her mind. If they wanted to make a duplicate Game Board, all they needed was a duplicate world. That was a possible situation, even if it was ridiculously difficult. "It seems Battler has managed to make furniture that's more useful than him,"

"I-I-!" Yuuki was absolutely stunned, standing there with her eyes wide and her jaw down. She waved her hand awkwardly, as though trying to dismiss it. "I'm happy to be of service! But, um, I can't accept that compliment in its entirety…" she didn't even know what she did. Yuuki hadn't even been trying to think of answers yet. "I'm sorry,"

"You're…rejecting a compliment from the Golden Witch?"

Scared and startled, she tried to respond again. "No! It's not that at all! Ah, um, well…m-maybe it's that…err, a little…" Yuuki fidgeted with her fingers. "I-I can't accept that I'm more efficient than the person who created me,"

"I see," she answered with a smirk, half-wishing the Seven Sisters were here. Leviathan would be quick to point out that her modesty was really only because she might be humiliated if the information ever came out. Hm, Lucifer probably really was the closest one to her. "Well, I suppose I can't be terribly offended by it, then. You're certainly a loyal furniture,"

"Y-Yes! I try to be! Thank you!"

"You're welcome," Beatrice smoked from the kiseru once again. Boredom was never a good thing for witches. Although she knew there was much to accomplish, she couldn't help that stagnant feeling. Boredom mixed with frustration. Knowing there was much to be done, and not being able to do anything. A witch who has lived a thousand years should know at least one Creator. Who? Aside from Featherine, who would never be willing to duplicate her own world for re-writing? There must be someone…

A voice from nowhere she could see called out to her. "Teacher!"

She jumped, startled by the sudden sound. After the girls left, she had been expecting there to be relatively little noise for a while except the sound of the goats above her. She doubted for a moment that it was directed at her, until she saw the person who had shouted it.

"Maria? It's been a while," she tried not to look shocked to see her here on the Meta-world. After all, wasn't it her who told Maria she was a witch?

"Uuu! I'm happy to see you!"

"Ah. I could say the same. Where is Sakutaro? Have you lost your use for him?"

"Of course not! Sakutaro is my best friend. He stays with Ange during the day to play with her,"

She showed Maria a cynical smile. "How nice of you to loan your precious friend to Ange," taking a puff of her kiseru; "but aren't you lonely up here?"

The little girl shook her head. "No. Normally I stay with mama and everyone. I came up here because I heard you were back and I wanted to see you," Maria floated nearer to her.

Beato wondered who exactly she would hear that from. "Well, I always accept a visit from a friend," she decided not to correct her on the matter of being her teacher. If Maria had learned from her, then perhaps she was her teacher anyways. "Maria, I've been asleep for a long time. Please remind me, what kind of gift do you have?" the witch tried not to let it show that she was confused by Maria's presence here. She wasn't even sure anymore if she had actually believed this girl was a witch. If she did ever believe it, she had probably thought at the time that her powers would only work on earth.

"Uuu! You don't remember, Beato? I can create worlds, single-handedly! Without any help from someone else!" she grinned. "Maria is a Creator witch!"

Her response was a slight smile. "I see. Thank you for refreshing my memory,"

The look on Maria's face indicated that she knew Beatrice wasn't just asking for a memory refresh, but she didn't say anything.

Yuuki stayed quiet for the moment, watching the interaction between the two of them.

"Maria, can Creator witches create duplicates of worlds that already exist?"

The little girl raised a finger to her mouth thoughtfully. "Hm…I don't know, Beato. I've never tried,"

She was a bit disappointed by the response, but she understood.

"Will you be getting your powers back soon?"

Ah, yes, she remembered something about that. More specifically, she remembered that Yuuki said she needed to plug into her compendium of magic. Well, staying awake and present in the plane of witches had never been her intention at all…she looked back up. Thunderous blue text caught her eyes still, and she sighed. Even so, it seemed they would need her to figure out the whole composition formula. "I suppose I will," after all, Battler had gone through a lot of trouble to pull her out here. "It seems to be the only way I can be of any use to anyone,"

"And if you gain your own powers, you will continue to exist, even if someone solves your story,"

Beatrice nodded.

"If you need Maria's help, I will lend you my power,"

"I may have to take you up on that offer,"

There was a pause for a moment. The young girl glanced around as though trying to figure something out. Just before Beatrice could ask what she was thinking, she came out with it. "Uuu! Yuuki, you got your own form?"

"Yes, Beatrice gave it to me personally," she blushed; "Do you like it?"

"It suits you very well,"

"Thank you!"

Time was supposed to pass faster in the Meta-world, not slower. She still didn't know how exactly she was supposed to figure out this whole Compendium of Magic thing. Beatrice looked inside the fragment Battler had disappeared to.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It appeared to be night-time. Battler was already in bed, and the Golden Sorcerer slowly separated from him. Standing beside him, the string that tied the two together was still visible. Next to the world of illusions, the two of them met each other.

"Hello," said the Golden Sorcerer.

The other one blinked and stared back at him. "Who are you?"

"The proper question is, 'Who are you?'. I can answer that one easier," he replied smoothly. "You're me, without 'me.' You are Tohya Hachijou," that Battler raised his hand, showing his other self the string. The human gasped and stared. "You've done enough for me, but it's time for me to leave you,"

"Wha-what do you mean?"

Battler smiled at his counter-part, unsure of how to explain. "I mean you've done enough. You've believed for a happy story long enough. It's going to come true now, but to bring this world to fruition, I must leave. I'm taking your memories, and I'll be taking your name as well," he let his arm drop as he spoke. "There is no reason for you to have your memories in this world. You'll just drive yourself crazy trying to believe hard enough. This is it. I'm sorry you can't understand my thanks," he pulled his arm up, then jerked it back roughly. The human's consciousness, as though it was completely natural, mirrored the action. After a moment, the string that could normally transcend any distance snapped, then disappeared. A cloud of white smoke came billowing up from the human counter-part. Contained within the particles were his memories. "From now on, you're…you. Hachijou Tohya," Battler bowed. His form disappeared, and the human returned to his body while the sorcerer disappeared.

Battler re-appeared in the Meta-world, where Maria and Yuuki were playing some sort of dice game, and Beato was watching the fragment. He chuckled. "Did you miss me, Beato?"

She flailed her hand and dropped the fragment, causing him to laugh more. Once she regained her composure, and he stopped his laughing, she smirked at him. "That was such a cozy good-bye you had with your counterpart there," secretly, she wondered if it was a good idea for him to go ahead and do that when the next world hadn't even been created yet, but she didn't want to let on that she was uncertain.

"Was it?" he didn't sit down, and the way he was looking at her expressed that there was a reason for this. She didn't say anything. "It's time, Beato. Follow me," she noticed that he was hovering over the board, without even touching it.

"I don't think the Golden Witch takes orders," she answered, although she stood up anyways. "I respond better to pleas and bribes,"

He didn't respond because she was coming along anyways. As she neared him, she also began hovering. Beneath them, the board seemed to vanish. As they ascended, they watched the goat battle in front of their faces. That, also, came to disappear, until they reached another place and stopped abruptly- as though they were on an elevator. Beatrice glanced around in confusion, until she saw a huge, round wall of white text rise up around them. It was an equation, and a very long one by the look of it. In between certain sections, there were gaps.

"I see. I take it this is the formula," she said.

"Yes. Your job is to figure out the missing numbers, and then solve the equation for 'XYZ.' I've already figured out some of the code, but there's still plenty missing,"

"How am I supposed to figure this out?"

"You created this entire formula. Whatever feels right to you is probably the answer,"

She looked up and down, from the first 'X' to the 'Z=?' at the bottom. Square root signs, parentheses, exponents, logarithms- she couldn't even figure out what to start with. She thought back, trying to remember what all of this stood for over her game. And then, it became obvious. Beatrice smiled. "If I'm right, it's so obvious…" she said, plugging in imaginary number 'i' in the gaps between streams of numbers. The walls spun around and moved up, and she changed the composition to also include 'f^-3' in certain places. By the end, it seemed like nothing but a big long stream of letters, but Beato made sense of it. "i 3Xi5T ^7" was her answer. The circular wall of text rushed around her and Battler, encircling the both of them. White text turned gold.

"I…hope this means I solved it," she muttered.

"We'll know in a minute," Battler answered, backing up as though they were about to be attacked.

Beato watched silently, bracing herself for whatever was to come. There was something intimidating about tapping into something called "Endless." The reason for her nervousness soon addressed her. Before her eyes, she watched Battler fall down on his hands and knees, a long stream of gold penetrating his spine. Startled, she reached out to grab him, but before she could even finish saying his name, she felt a ripping pain in her own. Her knees buckled and she fell.

"Ahh-!" Battler struggled; "man, this w...as...so n-not in the...con...tra...ct...!"

She wished she could explain it to him, but the pain had paralyzed her vocal chords. Black spots clouded her vision, eventually taking over until she was nearly blind. And it wasn't over there. There was a sharp, stabbing feeling on her forehead as a wound opened up-seemingly from the inside. Battler squirmed, grabbing at the hole where the blood fell out.

"Ba...tt...ler..." she strained, trying to make herself talk to him- but she couldn't. She couldn't say any more than that. The stabbing pain replicated itself in her chest. "Guh-!"

He grabbed her hand. It didn't even bother her that there was blood all over it. Although she was still being wracked with pain through every nerve cell in her body, he seemed to be adjusting. She took a deep breath and felt the oxygen move against the hole in her chest. Oh, what a creepy feeling that was.

Were they...dying..?

She grasped his hand back. "Battler," tiny streams of blood came out of the corners of her mouth. "it's..." yet again, she was cut off. The gouging pain now came through her stomach. The both of them coughed and choked simultaneously as blood came pouring out. He nodded, and she caught tears going down his face. "...it's...the magic..." she managed before coughing up blood.

She didn't need to explain. Battler already understood. Trying to cram something infinite into something finite...it was destined to be excruciatingly painful. Imagine, for a moment, trying to pour the ocean into a shot glass. The glass would certainly break from all the pressure. This was almost the same- in fact, it's the best way for a human to understand it.

Yet another wound opened up, this time in the leg. Their blood fell out and mixed on the hard surface beneath them, but they had both finally adjusted enough to the pain to speak. Battler was the first one to do so.

"Bea...to..." he paused to choke. "I wa...n...ted...to...kn...o..w.." as he spoke, he pulled her closer to him. It was easier to understand him this way. "...your...huma..n...name..."

She looked at him with surprise, then grimaced and stiffened as pain shot through her knee. "You...do...n't...kn...ow...?"

"I want...you...to...te...ll...m...e..."

She smirked. "Do...n't...ha...ve...one...the Gol...den...Witch...has no ne..ed..."

"Th...hat's...a lie..." he gasped for air. "Sh...ow...me...your first...for...m..."

Her response to that was a strange look. "A..re...yo..u...kid-ding?" she let out a hiccuping cough.

"Sh...ow...me..."

She looked down at herself, then back at him. "Battler," bloody saliva leaked down the side of her mouth. "th...at...'s...the one...I'm...in...si..nce...I woke...up..."

Battler's eyes widened. She didn't look any different to him than she had before. Then, he closed his eyes, and tried to look at her with the eyes of her heart. It was said that looking at a living being like that would show you what they really were. He gasped and his breath shook as sweat mixed with the blood that fell, getting salt in his wounds. The eyes of his heart...

She looked exactly the same.

The waterfalls of gold turned into many little gold particles that floated around them. And there they were, laying together, getting soaked in each other's blood. As he began to open his eyes, she placed her hands on opposite sides of his head.

"Don...'t..." she gasped for air as her figure slowly began dissolving into a gold mist. "to you, I...I wish to re...main...as a witch..."

"Okay," he kept his eyes closed. It felt like his entire body was vaporizing into tiny, salt-like particles.

"I...wa...nt you to...gran..t me...a wish..."

"I th...ought...you were the wi...tch..."

"Mor..tal," she tried to snapped, but in the strain of speaking, it failed. "I have...gi...ven you...some...of my pow...er...did you th...ink...it came...wi..th...ouut...com...p...ens...ation...?"

"Th...en...what..?"

"T...h-ell me...s..ay it...again..."

It sounded vague, but Battler knew what he meant. With his eyes closed, he smiled and reached to stroke her hair. "Beato...for...a..ll...e...tern...'ty...I w...i..ll al.."

He was stopped there, by the feeling of her lips against his. She smiled, tears of pain and joy simultaneously rushing down her cheeks, streaking the blood further. "Did you r...ea...lly...thin...k...I'd l..et you...say it, du-mba..ss?"

He laughed, and neither of them had anything more to say. Before they knew it, they were gone.


	7. Parallel Universe

A/N: I have taken to the liking of making suspenseful endings in the spirit of letting people reach their own conclusions, at least temporarily.  
The reviews I got about "killing off" Beatrice and Battler still surprised me.  
It's nice to know at least some of you take your Umineko stuff seriously, though.

Chapter Seven: Parallel Universe

"Maria-sama! It's been so long!"

"Uuu!" she temporarily halted the dice game to greet the Seven Sisters. "Beelz! It's good to see you!" she wrapped her arms around the demon of Gluttony.

Leviathan folded her arms, unhappy about being ignored.

"Maria-sama," Belphegor approached her and bowed. "Have Beatrice-sama and Battler-sama already left?"

"Yes," she smiled, looking upwards.

"If I may know," the demon of Sloth began again; "what will happen if they get it wrong?"

Maria giggled. "Nothing. Most witches have to try their equation multiple times before accessing their power," her smile became saddened. "The real problem is...what happens if they get it right?"

"What do you mean, Maria-sama?" Mammon inquired.

"Well, the only witch to ever tap into Beato's magic, aside from her guardian, is Ange," her figure hovered. "Her witch guardian wasn't strong enough to tap into the magic for more than two days at a time, and Ange had the benefit of solving the equation gradually. That means both of them will be trying to take in the full force of an eternity of magic," Maria looked up, trying to locate where they had gone.

Belphegor put a hand on her shoulder. "Please don't worry, Maria-sama,"

"Belphe's right," Mammon answered. "I'm sure Beatrice-sama and Battler-sama will be just fine. They wouldn't be able to tap into it if they weren't ready,"

"Uuu! You're right, Mammon. Why don't we all play a game together while we wait?"

"""Yes! We'd love to!"""

Maria had to pick a game all nine of them could play, which was no simple feat, but she managed it. About part way through the game, Leviathan was in the lead, when a stream of golden particles came gently drifting down. Maria lifted her hand and caught a few of them, then let them slide through her fingers. It felt like tiny grains of sand. Piles of them heaped up on the "floor," and some fell away.

"Is this...good?" Lucifer asked, touching one of the piles lightly.

"Maria doesn't know," the witch answered. "I don't even know how to know," more and more kept falling from the sky, building the piles up higher. "Ange is the only one who might know,"

They abandoned the game in favor of trying to figure out what had happened. The particles stopped falling from the sky, and all they could do was stand and watch as they sparkled. Maria looked down. It shouldn't be possible for someone to "die" from accessing their power, but...nothing like this had ever happened before. The piles began to change their shape without any influence from the outside. Slowly, they moved around, as though little handfuls of gold flecks were playing games amongst each other. At the end, she was looking at two full-sized replicas- one of Beatrice, one of Battler, lying beside each other on their backs. Golden particles became flesh and clothing from the feet up. Their eyes were open, rolling around dizzily. They probably weren't quite conscious yet.

"Th...they're covered in blood..!" even Belphegor was horrified at the sight.

"Uuu! Don't worry," Maria smiled; "that's normal. When you tap into such strong magic, something like that is bound to happen," after all, if you try to pour the entire ocean into a shot glass full-force, the glass will break- without question. But a shot glass isn't capable of learning; a person is. They could learn how to hold the magic within themselves by becoming eternal. It was certainly no easy feat, and they were probably still in the midst of trying to take it all in.

Beelzebub broke the silence. "Is anyone ready for another snack?" she asked. "I wish Ronove-sama was here, he makes the best chocolates!"

"I could go for another snack," Yuuki answered while she was still finishing off her most recent spicy pickle.

"Y-you guys are gonna get fat!" Asmodeus exclaimed. "If you don't have a nice body, you'll never find a prince charming!"

"Actually," Leviathan grabbed Beelz's hair; "You're fat already!"

"Shhh!" Maria put a finger to her lips and whispered; "You have to be quiet! If you wake them up, it could be bad," the girls immediately stopped.

"Maria-sama, we're sorry for making so much noise," it was Lucifer who apologized.

"It's fine. Let's just leave them alone," she rose. "We can go play a game somewhere else while we wait,"

"Maria-sama, are you sure they won't bleed to death?" Belphe seemed to be the only one who was still worried about them.

"Well, I suppose it's possible," she answered; "no witch has ever had to suffer such severe wounds. But, it's not likely for a witch to die of blood loss," they reached another solid surface no one was using, and Maria sat down. "Some witches don't even have blood. I know of one whose insides are made of candy,"

"I see," she responded. "Thank you, Maria-sama," she bowed, and after that, she stopped talking. The girls followed her and sat down on the surface.

"Hey, does anyone know what's keeping Sakutaro so long?" Maria asked. "It's been a while since we got to play a game together,"

"I don't know," Mammon answered, glancing at Leviathan.

"Wh-why are you looking at me?" she whined. "I haven't seen him, either!"

The only thing they managed to figure out that, out of the nine people there, not a single person knew where Sakutaro was. Maria couldn't help but find that strange.

"He doesn't normally come up with us," Lucifer told Maria.

"Uuu! That explains it," she grinned. "Then, if I call upon him and let him know I'm here, I'm sure he'll come," the young witch closed her eyes, and let out a deep breath. The Seven Sisters were all confused because they had expected her to actually call out for him. When he suddenly materialized before them, however, their skepticism left.

"That was amazing, Maria-sama!" Mammon squealed with delight. "How did you do that?"

"It was easy. I just had to call him in my heart,"

"Uryuu! Maria, I'm happy to see you!" he wrapped his arms around her excitedly. "You haven't come to visit us lately,"

She nodded. "You're right. I've been staying with Mama and the others, trying to help Battler. How is Ange doing?"

"She's doing just fine. How's…everyone?"

Maria pointed at the place they had just come from. They weren't that far from it, just enough that they didn't have to worry too much about making noise. "Battler separated from his piece tonight and tapped into the eternal magic,"

He looked down, eyes widening. "That doesn't look good," Sakutaro fidgeted. "Are they alright?"

"Uuu…" this one was a serious response more than a happy exclamation. "Maria doesn't know for sure. I don't think anything could have happened, but…no witch has ever tried to take in an eternal magic,"

Now he was really alarmed. "Wha-what can we do, Maria?!"

Her expression was unchanged. "Nothing. There's nothing we can do, Sakutaro," but then, she smiled and grabbed his hand. "If they weren't able to take in the magic, they wouldn't have been able to solve the equation. So, don't worry," even though she wasn't entirely sure of that, herself, Maria knew that worrying would get them nowhere.

He looked away and nodded. "You're right, Maria. What about mama and the others?"

"Uuu! They're all doing just fine, too. But, I wanted to see you, Sakutaro,"

"Really? Why?"

The little witch wrapped him in a hug. "Because I've missed you!"

"I'm so jealous!" Leviathan complained. "Sakutaro gets more attention than us!"

Giggling, Maria pulled away. "Are you feeling lonely, Levia?" she asked, tugging on Sakutaro's hand. "Let's go play a game, Sakutaro,"

He seemed to have completely forgotten what was going on with Beatrice and Battler. "Uryuu!"

And, with that, the game resumed. The passage of time in the plane of witches always seemed short, but this time, it felt virtually non-existent.

"It looks like we have to go back to Ange-sama," Mammon said, reaching for the fragment.

"It's not fair!" Leviathan protested. "You shouldn't get to go first all the time!"

She smiled deviously. "You're right," her fingers grasped it. "Luci-nee should go first,"

"B-but!" Levia stammered. "Luci-nee always gets all the attention!"

A squabble broke out. Pretty soon, Lucifer, Leviathan, and Satan were all fighting amongst themselves. Smirking, Mammon disappeared inside the fragment. After a few minutes, the others realized she was gone. Pouting in frustration, Leviathan followed, and the others right behind them.

"Will you be alright up here by yourself, Maria?" Sakutaro and Yuuki were the only two who hadn't left.

"Uuu! I won't be alone, Sakutaro. I have Battler's new furniture to keep me company. You go help the Seven Sisters, and Ange. I'm sure we'll be able to play more soon,"

"Alright, Maria! I'm going to go play lots of games with Ange," he smiled and one of his ears twitched. Within a few seconds, he had dissolved into the kakera and gone to be with the rest of them.

Maria sighed and looked around. Without saying anything, she floated down from the invisible surface and landed beside the two were laying there. Their forms were still there; if they died, they would disappear. When would they wake up? This magic was extremely powerful. It could be a while before they knew anything. Realizing that staring at their figures wasn't accomplishing any great feats, the young witch floated back up. Yuuki tentatively followed her as she seemed to be going this way and that.

"Maria-sama, what are you going to do?"

"I'm looking for a witch I know of. I have a question I'm sure she'll know the answer to,"

She nodded and continued following along.

Maria continued drifting along. Other game boards came into view, and seas of fragments were visible virtually everywhere. It was like traveling through a busy interstate. The witch they were looking for was a very powerful one who was known to dabble in all sorts of "magic." She was a knowledge power-house when it came to all kinds of witches powers; even if she wasn't able to something herself, she usually knew how someone else could do it. Although on earth it would have been a few hours, in this plane, it was almost no time at all when they came across a familiar witch, giving a rather hopeless expression to the sea of fragments in front of her eyes.

"I thought I might find you here, Thirty-four,"

She turned around. "Ah, Maria. Are you looking for a game?" as she asked, she tossed aside the kakera that was in her hand. "If you are, you certainly won't find anything interesting here. There are all just the same, boring humans as always,"

"Thank you, but no," she answered. "I'm actually looking for you,"

Her response was a shrug. "You've got to be more interesting than the humans I've been talking to. You have my attention,"

"I just have a question. Is it possible to duplicate a world that already exists?"

The responding expression was thoughtful, with shocked undertones. "…huh. I don't think I've ever gotten that question before," she tapped the lower corner of her lips. "Creating an entirely new world isn't that difficult, especially not for a Creator…but, duplicating one? Hm. Well, it depends on what you mean by 'duplicating.' If a world has already existed once, why make it twice?"

"Uu! Understood. Maria wants to duplicate a world, but…it should also be a different place," she struggled to explain what she was thinking, but the other witch seemed to understand her perfectly.

"I think I get it. Sort of like a parody," Thirty-four thought some more. "Fragments are easy to make. Entirely new worlds are easy to make. But a duplicate? That would be..difficult…but, I think someone could do it,"

"How would someone do it?"

She exhaled deeply. "You would have to figure out how to duplicate the story behind the story. I'm sure you've heard of parallel universes, right? It's basic witch knowledge,"

"Yes,"

"That's the only way I can imagine it working. The gods usually don't allow the same world to exist in the cosmos twice,"

"Aren't parallel universes where everything is opposite?"

She shook her head 'no,' and picked up a fragment. "Most worlds don't end until every possibility has been realized in the fragments, which usually eliminates the need for a parallel universe. However, there have been cases when the fragments wouldn't stop multiplying with the same story playing over and over. It became impossible to realize those possibilities in that world, so to satisfy the gods' laws about reality, an entirely different universe had to be created. Then, once that place was finished, it became possible to put the old one to an end,"

"Uu! So, all Maria has to do is make a parallel universe?"

"Yes, but be careful. An entire universe will be very difficult to make, even for a Creator,"

There was a pause. The younger looking witch looked down pensively, just then becoming aware that Yuuki was still standing behind her- awkwardly trying to figure out what was going on, but not wanting to interrupt. After a few moments, she spoke. "Then, I will ask you one last favor,"

Now her face was really stunned, but it quickly turned into a sardonic smile. "It's not often that such a young witch dares ask like that," she laughed. "But, you know what? I admire your boldness. I'll grant that wish of yours,"

Maria's expression had gone from happy and childish to solemn and serious. Even her voice changed as she made her request. "Lend me your power,"

"What? No groveling? No begging? You don't even look scared,"

The child's expression remained unchanged. "I am asking you to please lend me your power,"

"And, what if I say 'no?'"

"…uu…that would make you a liar,"

"Ohohohoho, I suppose you're right about that," although it had not been explicitly mentioned, she knew exactly what Maria was trying to do. "Then, what if I tell you I want some compensation for this wish?"

"What kind of compensation do you want?"

"Does it matter, Maria? Are you wavering?"

There was a flash of anger on her face that startled even the more experienced witch. "I will create a parallel universe no matter what. Even if you do not keep your promise, Maria will figure out how to do it eventually. I am simply asking you for a favor. Please lend me your power,"

"Believe it or not, I like the sound of that. I hate it when someone desperately throws themselves at me and begs for my help, claiming that they need me," a glowing sphere of white light appeared at the other girl's fingertips. "Witches are always more interesting than people," she said, extending her hand and grabbing Maria's. The younger one jerked as she accepted the power being loaned to her. "There. Whatever world you create, I will believe in it. You have my guarantee,"

"Thank you, Thirty-four," her smile returned.

"Oh, and one more thing, Maria- I don't really like the sound of my name in Greek,"

"Understood! I will remember that!" she grasped onto Yuuki's hand. "Let's go, Yuuki,"

"As you wish, Maria-sama," she answered, bowing slightly. "Thank you very much…witch-sama,"

"Don't mention it," she said, and with that she left to find another stream of kakeras. Maria led Yuuki away in the opposite direction.

"What must we do now, Maria-sama?"

"I am going to find out how to make a parallel universe. I can get started on it while Beato and Battler are sleeping,"

Yuuki nodded. "That's very pro-active of you, Maria-sama,"

Real witches don't have books to go by. They learn as they go along, and sometimes by consulting more experienced witches. Now that she thought of it, she probably should have asked who it was who created the parallel universes at those times, but she hadn't. "Yes. I'll have to figure out how to create the second world without going against the gods' laws. Eligibility only expressly requires a world to be 'incapable of producing enough possibilities to satisfy reality law,' but it doesn't say how to determine that," with a sigh, she added; "This will probably cause a lot of ruckus,"

More hours passed on earth as Maria slowly floated back to their original starting point. Quietly, she landed beside the two and gazed at their wounds. All of them had stopped bleeding, probably a while ago, but the wounds were still deep enough for her to see their insides. Their hearts were no longer the hearts of humans, but golden hearts that lacked arteries and veins. Their stomachs, livers, spleens- guts- were all the same. Golden organs that could keep them alive as long as they willed it. Maria smiled, but tip-toed around them so she wouldn't disrupt them.

Now, where was that box?

Maria crawled around so that she could look under the very few artifacts that remained. She found the box behind the chair Battler was always sitting in.

"Maria-sama, excuse me for intruding, but you needn't crawl on the floor like that. I will gladly do so myself,"

"Uu! I found it!" she held up the box. "It's alright, Yuuki," Maria hovered. "Come with me," Battler's furniture followed her up to the next floor and sat down beside her. She opened the box and, one by one, began to pull out the pieces. "Here's mama, Eva-obasan, Krauss-ojisan, Kinzou, Rudolf-ojisan, George-oniichan…" she named them as they came out. As their names were called, their forms appeared beside each other, until all nineteen (including Beato's pieces) of them were there.

"Maria, wh-where are we?" Rosa inquired, looking around in shock.

"Ah, that's right, you don't know this place. This is the plane of real witches,"

"The…the..?!"

"Maria told you, I'm a witch!"

They all looked around, trying to get a handle on where they actually were- but none of them could. "How did we get here?" Eva asked.

"I brought you here," she answered. "And I brought you here because I need your help,"

Hideyoshi was the first to answer. "What can we help you with, Maria-chan?"

"I'm glad you asked," she turned her legs slightly, folding her hands behind her back. "Battler wants to keep his promise and make a happy story for all of you, but…it looks like it will be impossible, in the context of the fragments. The only way I can do it is if I make a parallel universe,"

"Well…how can we help..?" Natsuhi inquired. "None of us are witches,"

"I don't need witches. I need all of you. Yuuki, can you bring me a fragment?"

"Yes, Maria-sama!" the girl floated up and found a near-by fragment to bring down.

"Thank you,"

"It is my honor to be of service to you,"

"Now, look," Maria began to explain. "This is a fragment. Fragments are...like tiny worlds, that together make up one world. Each one of these tiny worlds are made up of even smaller worlds- the worlds of the people who live in them. All of you- your stories, your pasts, your jobs, your children- all of those combine to make up these worlds. That's why I need you. There's no way I can get a hold of the stories written by Featherine, but if you will all work with me, I won't need them,"

The adults all looked at each other, inquiring the opinion of whoever was closest to them. "So, we'll have to be part of the story again?" Kyrie finally asked. Maria nodded.

"Yes, but I will need all of you. If even one person doesn't agree, then…I can't do it,"

"And…then what will happen to us, Maria?" George asked.

The little girl sighed. "The longer you remain outside your vessels, the harder it will be to send you back- and the number of times we can send you back will also decrease. We can't hold your essences indefinitely. If you choose not to go back in the game, you will 'die,' permanently…hopefully, after that, you will go to heaven,"

Jessica grabbed Kanon by the shoulders; she'd heard all she needed to. "We'll do it," all the others, including Kanon, looked at her. More assertively this time, she said; "Don't you think that, if we can live, we should?!" her grip on his shoulders tightened slightly. "Everyone…everyone else has had a chance to write this story but us!" looking at him, and then to Shannon- who stood beside her- the blonde continued even more. "There are things we want to do, things we need to do…" her eyes traveled; "disputes left unsettled, old wounds left festering, pain we never let go of; there are people we never said 'I love you' to, songs we never sang, and…most of all…stories we never told," she lifted her head up and released her grip on the smaller boy. The look on her face radiated confidence. "Besides, if we go back, maybe all of us can live long enough to become the people we want to be. Come on, guys…don't give up on our story,"

The adults, who had approached this thought with skepticism, now seemed to be swayed.

"Excuse me for saying so if it is out of line, but…" Shannon grabbed a hold of Jessica's hand, and gave it an encouraging squeeze. "I agree with ou-" Jessica gave her a sharp look, and she quickly corrected; "Jessica-san,"

Krauss nodded. "I agree,"

"And I agree with my husband,"

Within a few moments, everyone had given their consent- both the verbal and the non-verbal. Maria smiled ear-to-ear. "Uu! Thank you, everyone!" she felt the power Thirty-four had loaned her stirring within her chest at Jessica's words. They nodded, and she extended her hand. "Please, lend me your power," she said. The nineteen of them closed their eyes, and tiny specks of light moved from their hearts and heads towards her hand. It collected and collected, making the light bigger and brighter with every fleck. Their memories, feelings, and perceptions all joined together. Squinting her eyes wasn't enough to shield them; Maria was forced to close them completely. She then turned her head, and faced you- the reader- with a smile. "Spectators," she called out, offering her hand to you. "I also ask you- please lend me your power. Please believe in us- believe in our story- and lend us your power. If we all don't believe, the miracle can't happen!" in that hand, too, more light collected- little bits from those of you who were willing to believe. It was enough to make that bright, white light she had in her hands explode. Maria felt a powerful suction come over her whole body, pulling her into the center of the particles. This time, she had to cover her eyes with her hands to keep them from burning.

"Young Creator," called out a voice- a kind, high-pitched voice that sounded rather familiar. "Why do you seek to create a world that already exists?"

"Because," she tried to think of an appropriate response; "the people from that world are going to be stuck inside forever if I don't," Maria remembered what Jessica had told them all just a few moments before; "everyone has had a chance to write the story but us, and it's our story!"

There was a pause. "I see. You are from the world of Rokkenjima in 1986. That world has garnered a lot of attention," although her eyes were closed, Maria could feel that the other person was standing close to her. "…hm…" the god, who sounded far too young to have such status, was clearly thinking.

"I thought I would be able to create a parallel universe," she explained.

"Hau!" what a strange thing to say; "A parallel universe…I see. That's much different from just making a copy," Maria nodded.

"I've never made one before,"

"That's because it's not a witch's job to make one- it's a god's. If a god notices that a world is incapable of coming to a close, they are obligated to create a parallel universe for the sake of the people inside. It usually happens when a Creator or lesser god only creates a fraction of a world, or abandons it shortly after it's brought to existence. It's rare to need a parallel universe because stories have a way of working themselves out, but…there are other cases," she sighed and grasped Maria's hand, effectively moving it off her eye. The light, to her surprise, had dimmed- but not enough for her to open her eyes. "A tale will continue until either the truth is discovered, or the truths of all other worlds become irrelevant," the little witch knew she was talking about "the perfect happy ending," where no mystery exists. "Then, for the sake of the souls trapped on Rokkenjima on that day, I will allow a witch to create a parallel universe- but please don't be confused. Your family may still die on that day, even if every possibility is realized,"

"Uu! Maria understands. We all want a chance to be who we want to be. Even if it's only for two days…but, I will try to make our lives longer than that,"

She could feel the other person beginning to leave. "You will need a miracle for that,"

Maria tried to open her eyes, even in the bright light. Her vision was blurry, but she wanted to see who the other person with her was. What she saw looked like a young girl, still looking at her as she was transported backwards by some unseen force. She was smiling, probably not much taller than the witch herself, with long purple hair.

"May your efforts bear fruit," the god said, disappearing from sight range.

Maria landed harshly on the ground, still surrounded by the blinding light. They ached from trying to force herself to see. Her heart pounded. The light surrounding her returned to particle form and fell into her hand, where they solidified into a fragment. The nineteen stood there behind her, glancing down at it. She brought herself to speak. "This is the first fragment of our new world," Maria stood proudly. "For now, it's paused until you go inside. We should wait for Battler and Beato to wake up,"

There were no complaints. The witch opened the box and put all the pieces back inside; one by one, the nineteen disappeared.

"Maria-sama! We wondered where you went," Mammon hovered behind her.

"Did you bring any snacks?" Beelzebub asked.

"Not this time, Beelz,"

"Is there any news about how Beatrice-sama and Battler-sama are doing, Maria-sama?"

"Yes, Belphe. I believe they are doing just fine. The Golden Magic is becoming a part of them. They will wake up as soon as they have completely accepted the power,"

Sakutaro hugged her excitedly from behind. It startled her because she didn't see him, but she regained herself soon enough. "You mean they'll be alright?"

Maria nodded.

"Uryuu!" he responded with glee.

"We actually don't have much time left," Mammon sighed. "Ange-sama will be waking up soon,"

Belphegor nodded.

"Was I gone that long?"

"I'm afraid so,"

Maria stood and drifted down to the floor where the two new witches lay. Around that was the sea of fragments; she grabbed one. While she was there, she looked to Beatrice and Battler. It looked like the blood had, along with everything else, turned gold in color and been absorbed as part of their power. The deep holes she could see straight through earlier were now almost closed. Fragment in hand, she turned back and floated back up again.

"Here it is," she held the shining fragment out to them. "You should go back to Ange,"

They nodded and, one by one, disappeared inside the fragment. When Maria let it go, it joined back up with the rest of the kakeras.

"Yuuki,"

"Yes, Maria-sama?"

"Let's play for a while, until they wake up,"

Yuuki grinned, and pulled out a deck of cards.


	8. Invitation

A/N: I just thought I'd inform you all that Maria now knows where you live.  
Or…at least where you read your fanfiction.  
I've gotten a couple strange reviews from anonymous people that I can't respond to and ask for clarification- but if you guys have any questions, comments, or concerns, you know where the 'review' button is. I'm totally open to constructive criticism if you think I could improve on my writing. I want to get all the reviews I can, and I totally understand not having an account on this site (or, at least, being too lazy to sign in…), but I'd really prefer it if I have a way to respond to you all directly when you review me.

ALSO! I just realized today is Umineko day!  
Happy holiday, readers!  
I'm glad I was done with this today- this is your gift-…  
…if…you um…want it…

Chapter Eight: Invitation

On earth, it had been a full week. Maria knew because the Sisters had come to her seven times to play games with her and Yuuki. Even in the plane of witches, where time passes much more slowly, they were beginning to feel impatient.

Sakutaro had finally gotten Maria interested in a game when it happened.

Battler gasped noisily for air; Beatrice opened her eyes. The pain was gone. When she looked down, so was the blood. She had thought for certain they were dead, that taking in the magic was too much- but, here they were. Battler realized he could get up and opened his eyes.

"Did we succeed?" he asked her.

"…I don't know," she said; "I think so,"

"…huh…" he sat up and looked at his hands, clenching and unclenching them. Beato followed just behind him. "I wonder how long it's been,"

She shrugged. After a moment had passed, she finally said; "I bet you really thought we were dying,"

"And what makes you so sure of that?"

Beato giggled. "You should have heard how sappy you were,"

"Ihihi," he chuckled at her; "you were worse!"

"Hoh-!" she folded her arms; "I only said all that to make you say what you were really thinking-! It didn't mean anything!"

The red-head smirked evilly; "**Oh, really?**" he spoke in the red text, surprising both him and Beatrice; "Then, say it in red!"

"…hm…" her eyes traveled. "I refuse. No particular reason,"

This time he knew for sure why she refused, and his grin didn't hide that. She was still pouting slightly in response.

"Heh…" he rubbed the back of his neck. "It looks like we have our powers back. I didn't even know the Red Truth was one of them,"

"It was a power all witches on my Game Board had," she stood up. "I guess we got the colored text when we took all the powers from the game," Maria, Sakutaro, and the Seven Sisters came into her eye range.

Battler stood up, and noticed the same gathering of people. "Huh. I wonder what they're all doing up there," without saying anything else, he floated up to the top, where the nine friends were playing dominos. Beatrice, equally curious, trailed behind.

Belphegor was the first to notice them. As soon as her facial expression changed, Mammon and Satan both looked. When Maria finally turned, her face lit up with a grin. "Uu! Beato! Battler!" she leapt out of her sitting position and jumped far enough to grab Battler in a hug. "I'm so glad nothing bad happened to you!" she switched from Battler to Beatrice. "We were afraid you might die,"

The golden-haired witch gave her a one-armed hug, and lightly patted her back. "Nonsense, Maria," she said; "I am the Golden and Endless Witch. Nothing can kill me," actually, she wasn't sure if that was true or not; immortality isn't really a power you can test. "You…haven't lost your faith in me, have you?"

"Of course not!" she pulled back enough for Beatrice to see the shocked look on her face.

The adult witch smiled and patted her head. "Good. I didn't think so," Maria drifted down.

"How long has it been since we left to get our powers?" Battler asked.

"Uh, let's see…" the little witch had to refresh her memory for a moment. "It's been a week in earth-time,"

"A week?" Beato raised a brow.

"Yes, a week," she answered. "Usually it only takes two days- three at most,"

"I see. That must be why you were worried,"

"Uu! But it's alright, I had my friends with me!"

She glanced at the other nine who were gathered around Maria, and gave an approving nod. "It looks like you've been satisfactory furniture for Maria while we were away,"

"Thanks," Battler added; "I'm sure she needed the company,"

Beatrice sighed and looked around. It was hard to say what they were even standing on, and the only thing that was here seemed to be the dominoes game and two boxes. Her attention returned to the little girl. "Did you find out anything about duplicating a world yet?"

She nodded. "Look," the Creator pulled a fragment that was suspended in mid-air. "This is the first fragment of our parallel universe," Maria said, holding it out to them.

"A parallel universe?" Beato inquired, looking down at the shimmering object. "You had the power to create a parallel universe?"

"Not really; Maria needed help from a god, but she let me make one,"

"…hm…it takes a lot of experience to summon a demon, but a god? I would think that was impossible,"

"I wasn't expecting you to be prepared this readily," Battler chuckled. "Beato and I still haven't made the new Game Board yet,"

"Uu! Don't worry, the world will be on pause; you should have plenty of time,"

Battler nodded to Beatrice, who nodded back. "It looks like we should get started. Making a Game Board took me six years the first time,"

"Yeah, but you didn't have your powers then," he reminded her. "Now that we have them, it should be easy,"

The two of them left the invisible floor and drifted back down to the ruins of the game.

Beatrice took a deep breath, and placed her hands out in front of her. Battler, standing across from her a good length, stretched out his as well. Their palms faced each other. Her eyes closed, and so did his. Between their hands, a gold outline of a board appeared. It rotated and spun between them, and then it disappeared. They opened their eyes.

"What's that about?" Battler asked.

"I don't know," she replied. "It was strange. Let's try again,"

"Alright," they closed their eyes and stood with their palms facing each other. Another outline appeared; it rotated and spun- then disappeared, yet again. She frowned and folder her arms, thinking hard.

"…maybe…" she muttered; "maybe I can't make a world over those two days again,"

"Huh?" Battler quirked a brow. "What do we do now?"

"…ah…" Beatrice thought a bit more. "Hm," she turned back. "Maria!"

Her head popped up from where she was as she heard Beatrice call her. "Yes?"

"How far back does that fragment start?"

"Uu," Maria grabbed it again and looked inside. "Two weeks," she answered.

"Thank you," Beatrice turned back to Battler. "Let's try to make that our starting point,"

He nodded. Again, they closed their eyes and faced their palms towards each other. If this didn't work, Beatrice was out of ideas. A gold outline appeared between their hands, this time much more slowly. Each line slowly grew connected. It took a lot of focus. Finally, that finished. It rotated and spun between them, gaining speed gradually. The center of the board slowly filled up with substance from corner to corner. Both of them were sweating. Once the gaps were filled, it was finally done. Sensing this, they opened their eyes to see a board in front of them.

"You were right," Battler grinned. He snapped his fingers, and the meta-world regenerated the gaps in the floor. The table appeared in between the two chairs that now sat facing each other rather than to the side. He set the game board down on the table.

As they shuffled around, Beatrice found herself startled by a much younger presence. "Oh, Maria, I didn't realize you were there,"

"Uu!" she grinned. "Everyone is gone now, except Yuuki," the purple-haired girl waved.

"Oh, so you're Yuuki," Battler stated. He hadn't been formally introduced to the new appearance yet. "I didn't know you got your own form,"

"Y-yes!" she stuttered nervously. "Do you like it, Battler-kamisama? Beatrice-sama thought it up for me herself,"

"I think it suits you," he told her.

"Thank you!"

Battler glanced around and heaved a sigh. "What now?"

Beatrice sat down in one of the chairs, smiling to herself as she did. "It's…just no good,"

He looked at her as she spoke;

"It's useless," she added; "it's all useless,"

"…Ihihi," he chuckled, taking the seat opposite her. "You are incompetent!"

"Goh-!" for a second, she was stunned; then, she laughed. "You're just a cruel, heartless monster!"

Battler smirked. "Entertain me!"

"Bring me back my croissants!"

He made his voice as high-pitched as he could; "Come on, try to deny me!"

The blonde giggled more, mostly because his voice sounded ridiculous. "The food they were given had small bombs in it, which exploded from inside their stomachs!"

"Come on! Kneel!"

She smirked at him, but at the same time, she seemed gentler. "Even if you join us…"

Battler joined in at the end. "…there are seventeen people,"

They were out of things to say. Beato swirled her finger around on the board.  
That game was the most fun Battler ever had, but even now, thinking that seemed strange.  
He really should hate her.  
But his feelings weren't anything like hatred.

"We'll never have another game like that again," he said; Beatrice nodded.

"There was only one Rokkenjima of 1986,"

The murder mystery game between the two of them was officially over when Battler learned the truth. There wouldn't be much point in starting it up again, but they certainly did miss it.

Maria's giggling reminded them that there were other people here. She was playing jacks with Yuuki, who apparently wasn't well-coordinated.

"How long ago did the girls leave?" Beatrice asked.

"The day should be ending on earth soon," Maria answered; "but Ange stays up late a lot,"

She nodded.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On earth- or at least, in Japan, the sun was setting.

Ange sat at a picnic-style bench outside, at the port where here family had left for the family reunion. In front of her was a text-book and a notebook, but she kept looking up from the book and out to the water.

"Is there anything we can do to help you, Ange-sama?" Mammon sat beside her.

"Yes; Ange-sama, if you don't mind me saying, you seem a little distracted," Belphegor stood beside her. "Can any of us assist you?"

"…ah…" she smiled, and tried not to be too loud; there were people walking around and she didn't need them thinking she was talking to herself. "No, there isn't anything you can help with. This is just taking notes," with a sigh, she closed it. "I wanted to get more done today, but I guess that isn't going to happen,"

"You've been working hard today, Ange-sama," Belphe bowed her head. "A break is well-deserved,"

Again, she nodded.

"Why are you sitting here, anyways?" the demon of Greed looked out into the ocean, trying to see what her master was looking at. "You come here every week,"

"You didn't know, Mammon? …I'm waiting for my family to come back,"

She felt the other sisters come up behind her, and soon all seven had her in a group hug.

"""As long as you keep believing, all of Ange-sama's wishes will come true some day!"""

Mammon added; "Someday soon,"

"""Someday very soon!"""

"Ihi…ihihihi," Ange giggled. After a few seconds, they suddenly disappeared.

"I thought I might find you here, oujo," Amakusa sat down. "Has your family come back to you on that big boat yet?"

She smiled at him. Her body guard only knew in brief the reason why she was here, but he was generally supportive nonetheless.

"No," she answered.

"Well, it's just another day closer," he said, offering her a white paper bag. "I brought you some dinner. You've been here for the last two hours, so I didn't think you'd eaten anything,"

The smell of food reminded her of the hunger she'd been too distracted to notice before. "Ah…" Ange opened the bag.

"It's a rice burger with kalibi- your favorite,"

"Huh- I didn't know you knew it was my favorite,"

Amakusa smiled. "Of course. It was your favorite when you were younger, and it's still your favorite now- at least, from MOS burger,"

"…hm…" she brushed some strands of hair behind her ear. "I don't remember that well,"

"You don't remember? I used to take you from that school you were in every so often,"

"…I remember that a couple times," she swallowed. "If I remember correctly, you got caught once and Eva-obasan nearly fired you right then,"

He shrugged. "It happens sometimes,"

"Hm…now that I think of it, you came back again even after you got fired,"

"Your principal really hated me,"

Ange grinned. After a few minutes, she finished her dinner. The sun had almost completely set, so it was hard to see. "Oh, I'm sorry Amakusa- I didn't say 'Thank you,'"

"It's alright, oujo," he patted her head and stood up to stretch. "Are you ready to head home about now?"

"Yeah," she nodded and stood up, bringing her text-book and the paper bag with her. On their way out, she threw the bag into a trashcan.

Amakusa drove her home. Although she couldn't see them, she could still hear Asmodeus in her head, giggling about what a prince Amakusa is and how much she'd like to meet him. Once she got in, she took a shower so she could change into her nightgown and watch a little TV. Her bodyguard sat on the couch, novel in hand, not bothered by the noise. While he was distracted, the Seven Sisters came back into view, but they knew she couldn't talk to them while he was around. They seemed even more excited than usual today, but she hadn't a clue as to why. It wasn't like it was strange for them to be loud, so she didn't think too much of it.

Amakusa suddenly looked up from his book.

"What is it?"

He shrugged. "I thought I heard something,"

Satan gave the others a glare. "I didn't hear anything," Ange told him. "What are you reading?"

"Parasite Eve," he showed her the cover. "It's pretty interesting,"

"…is that really something you should be reading before bed?"

He chuckled. "I think I'll be alright,"

She turned her attention back to the television.

"What's on television, anyway?"

"It's an anime my cousin Maria used to watch,"

He looked at the screen. "Higurashi…no Naku Koro Ni, huh?"

She nodded. "I bet you probably think I'm weird to like a show like this,"

Amakusa grinned. "Nah. I read manga every now and then, although I've never heard of this one. Who's your favorite?"

"…hm…he isn't in the show very much, but probably Satoshi. Rika was Maria-oneechan's favorite,"

"Ah," he nodded and returned to the book.

There wasn't much else said between the two of them. The girls quieted down. Around ten o'clock, she finally turned off the television and went to bed.

"Sleep well, Ange-sama," Mammon and Belphegor tucked her in.

She giggled. "I'm an adult, you know, you don't have to do this,"

"Do you not wish for us to tuck you in, Ange-sama?" Belphegor asked. Ange closed her eyes.

"It's…not a problem," she blushed a little.

"You shouldn't be shy, Ange-sama," Mammon patted her shoulder. "No matter how old you are, it's nice to be tucked in. Sweet dreams," they left normal visibility range, and waited for her to fall asleep. Once she had, they all silently glanced at each other, and disappeared.

After they re-appeared on the plane of witches, the others realized it was time. Battler looked at Beatrice.

"It's the only thing left to do," she said.

"Yeah," he smirked. "I can't wait to see my little sister again. We'll be back soon, guys…hopefully with Ange,"

"Uu! Remember what Maria told you,"

"We won't forget,"

The two of them left right then in a whirlwind of golden flower petals. A few seconds later, they found themselves in the land next to illusions; the land of dreams. More particularly, Ange's dream. It looked like they had arrived at a good time- she wasn't even there yet. It's much harder to get someone's attention after they've already started their own dream. On earth, it was about an hour before she arrived- but for them, it was only a few moments.

"Onii-chan? Beatrice? What are you doing here?"

Battler hugged her before he even said anything. She hugged him back, not caring why he was here for a moment.

"We have an invitation we'd like to extend to you," Beatrice answered the question.

"…hm..?" she looked to her brother. He pulled away so he could talk to her.

"It's another world, Ange," he said. "My last gift to you was scrambled and eventually taken away, so I-" he stopped himself and looked to Beato. "we- made a new one,"

"A new…world? A new game?" she looked at him curiously.

"Yes,"

"We want to invite you to the new 1986," Beatrice stated plainly.

"With you guys? You want me- will I be-!" she stopped and looked down, trying to gather her thoughts. Ange took a deep breath. "What about my life here?"

"'You' will still be here," Beatrice explained; "and you can leave behind anything you'd like; memories, personality, names…" the rest didn't need explaining; she understood.

"Will I have to fight against you? Or Onii-chan? Or anybody?"

"No," it was Battler who answered first. "that kind of game is over,"

"How do I know this isn't some kind of trick?"

Beato answered with red text. "**There is absolutely no trick here. No one will trap you anywhere if the game is not won. You will either be allowed to return here, or stay in the world you're being moved to, but no one will try to make you their piece,**"

It was red text; she really couldn't argue with that. "Then, what do you want me to do?"

"Some of that is up to you," the golden-haired witch explained. "But, if you want to come with us, you don't have much longer before you have to separate. Your sleep cycle will interrupt our conversation,"

Ange nodded. "I see, so I really don't have much time to choose," a small smile came across her face. "Alright. Can I have some privacy?"

The two witches looked at each other, then back to her, and nodded. "Sure. Just call us when you're ready," Battler said; the two disappeared. Ange closed her eyes, and was soon facing "herself."

"It looks like I'll be leaving you now,"

"I heard the conversation," her eyes traveled down sadly. Ange lightly grabbed her shoulder.

"You'll be alright,"

She nodded, although she didn't seem convinced at all. "Who will I be, once you leave?"

"You will be you. The same 'you' you have always been. I won't take our name from you- so I guess we'll be sharing a name for a while,"

"…" there were a few tears gathering in her eyes, and she could see the fists clenching.

"What's the matter?"

"If…if you leave…how will onii-chan come back…? He'll…he'll come back for me, too, right?"

Ange was shocked, and she took a minute to stare at her before she answered- with a soft smile. "Of course he will- as long as you believe, he will come back for you. Don't give up on this world,"

She nodded and wiped her eyes. "Okay,"

"Perhaps I will come back and visit you," the witch could feel herself starting to phase out. "Ah, it looks like our conversation is being interrupted," Quickly, she gave her doppelganger a hug. "Good-bye," by the time she said, the girl had disappeared. Ange did have every intention of returning to visit her. "Battler! Beatrice!"

They appeared beside her immediately.

"I've made my decision. I will come with you,"

"I thought you would say that," Battler said.

"So, what do you want me to do?"

"You have a choice," said Beatrice. "You can stay with your baby-sitter for those days while we are on Rokkenjima, or you can go with Battler to the family reunion," they left the land of dreams and found themselves hovering through the plane of witches.

"I can- I can come with you? Again?!"

"Yes," Battler told her. "but there are stipulations,"

"Like what?"

"If you decide to come with us to Rokkenjima of 1986, you will have to lose all of your memories. And remember, you will still only be six-years-old, so if something happens, you will only add to the body count," Battler explained; "However, if you choose to stay back home, you will not be a part of the Game Board, so we can allow you to keep your memories and the Game Master may be able to update you,"

"If you die, it will be the same as everyone else who dies in that world. You will not be able to return to the original world- you will absolutely be dead," Beatrice added. "Don't misunderstand, Ange-chan; we fully believe that this world will turn out for the better- but…it's not impossible for us to relive the same ending, no matter how much we can change the world itself,"

"And if that happens, we don't want you to get caught up in it,"

She sighed thoughtfully. "…I see," this was a tougher decision than the last one they gave her. She already knew what they would tell her, if she asked; they would tell her she should stay at home, and wait for them to come back- but that this wasn't a decision for them to make.

Huh…

Ange no longer wanted to die…and she especially didn't want to be murdered by anyone.  
Yet, if the rest of her family was going to die, she at least wanted to be there with them on those days.  
She didn't want to just sit at home and do nothing, but she knew she wouldn't be able to do anything even if she was there- she was just a little girl.  
And she wanted to be able to return to her world if things didn't work out.

"It's not an easy decision you have to make," Beato sympathized. This "Golden Witch Beatrice" didn't seem anything like the one Ange read about in the stories.

"You're right," she said; "nevertheless, I think I've made up my mind,"

"Oh? That quickly?"

She nodded.

The three of them neared the new Game Board, situated on a place that looked exactly like the original meta-world. Maria, who was sitting in one of the chairs, turned her head as she heard them land on the floor.

"Uu! You brought Ange back!"

"Maria-oneechan!" she opened her arms and the little girl jumped on her in a hug that knocked her off balance. She fell, but she landed on her backside- and it didn't hurt that badly.

"Uu! Maria has missed you! I'm sorry I haven't visited, but I was trying to help Battler get ready for this surprise! Uuu!"

"Get ready..? How long have you guys been planning this?"

"A while," Battler answered; "ever since our last game ended. We wanted to keep it a surprise,"

"Uu! Did it work, Ange? Were you surprised?"

"Ihi…ihi…" she giggled; "yes. I was very surprised,"

"Uu!" Maria let go and ran off to go get the box of pieces. As she pulled them out, the characters from the story all lined up. Natsuhi looked out, and smiled at the grown-up Ange immediately.

"I never got to see you like this, Ange-chan," she said; "You're just as beautiful an adult as a child,"

Ange blushed. "Ah-ah-thank you, Natsuhi-obasan,"

"Did you decide to join us in the new world?"

"I will be in the new world," she answered.

"Is everybody ready to go?" Maria picked up the fragment.

"I'm ready," Ange was the first to answer.

"Ditto!" Jessica lightly hit her own open hand with her fist. "Let's do this,"

The wave of agreement spread around, until all nineteen of them agreed.

"Uu! Then Maria is ready to become the Game Master!" the little girl looked to the family members who would be present on the board, and placed her hand over her chest. "From now on, Maria won't move any of the pieces unless I have to. That way, you will all have a chance to write your own story- the way you want it to be written. And I will get to share the real truth about my family with all of the spectators," she added, extending the hand that was over her chest. Particles of light from their hands collected in her palm. "I must take your memories now, but please- try to keep your desires stored inside your hearts. Even if you can't have all of your memories, your wishes may reach far enough to change your fates," there were nineteen of them, so it took quite a while for all their memories of the two days at Rokkenjima to leave. Once it did, they all disappeared inside the fragment.

Maria turned to Ange then. She stood between Beatrice and Battler, lightly grasping onto her brother's hand for courage.

"And what do you choose, Ange?" she asked.

She didn't answer Maria directly; instead, she looked to Battler. "…onii-chan," she smiled; "I will go with you to Rokkenjima…"

There was a pause, and she could tell the other three were concerned, until she sighed and finished.

"…in 1987,"

The apprehension on their faces melted into smiles, and she gave Battler a hug.

"In 1987, for sure…I will come with you,"

He returned the hug.

"Come home safely, onii-chan,"

Her smile was saddened as she left his grip. Even though this "Battler" wouldn't be in the game on that day, his thoughts and feelings could still reach the one who was.

"I'm ready to go,"

Maria approached Ange with the fragment. "You're right, Ange. You can go to the family reunion next year, and have a lot of fun," she grabbed her hand. "_Audentes fortuna iuuat_- fortune favors the brave. Remember that," with that, she touched the kakera to the skin of Ange's other arm, and the girl disappeared inside it.

"We will leave the Game Board to you, Maria. Beato and I will be spectators,"

"Alright, Battler. Enjoy the story," she waved as he grabbed the other Golden Witch's hand, and they disappeared from sight.

"Maria," Sakutaro grabbed her arm. "Did you tell them?"

"Hm?"

"Did you tell them what happens if you lose?"

She giggled and patted his head. "No. If I told them that, they wouldn't want to go,"

"…uryuu…but, Maria…"

"Sakutaro, don't you believe?" the expression on her face was disappointed and sad. "Don't you believe they can make a happy story?"

"O-of course I do, Maria,"

"You have to believe, Sakutaro. I need you to believe- or the miracle won't happen,"

The timid lion-boy nodded his head. "Yes- I believe; everyone will make a happy story,"

"Uu! Good!" her face lit up with a smile rather quickly. Yet again, she turned to face you. "**I want you all to know that, as Game Master, Maria can use red text,** but I won't use it unless I have to. You all have to believe on your own," she sighed and her eyes traveled. "I want to show you the real truth about my family. When you meet someone, you're supposed to meet their good side first, and then learn about their bad side as you get to know them-but…you've done that backwards. Everything I will show you about my family is the truth that they want you to know. I don't know if I can show you all of everyone's story, but I can show you more in two weeks than two days. I hope that those two days on Rokkenjima will be different this time…" she realized that you may not be keeping up, so she stopped herself; "Then, when that time comes, you don't need to believe that this story about Rokkenjima is what did happen- only that it can happen," Maria bowed.

"Mind if I watch?" in came a perky little blonde, who actually didn't seem to be that much older than Maria herself. It was the same one she had gotten power from earlier. "I did help you put this world together,"

"Uu! Go ahead- you can have any seat you want,"

"That's a given," her answer was a bit arrogant as she picked out a seat and sat down. A bucket of popcorn appeared her lap, and she began to munch on handfuls of it. "I can't find a single interesting human to play with,"

"Well," said Maria, sitting down in her seat at the chess board. "I won't keep you waiting any longer. Let's begin the story,"


	9. Begin!: Maria vs Fate

A/N: My longest chapter yet! I'm so proud. I understand this is all a bit controversial, but I hope everyone is enjoying it anyways!

Chapter Nine: Begin!: Maria vs. Fate

"Ushiromiya-san! Ushiromiya-san!"

Rosa groggily lifted her head off her arms, which were folded over her office desk. It felt like just a few minutes ago she had given in to closing her eyes, just for a few moments to gather up some energy. Six cups of coffee after two nights with virtually no sleep just wasn't doing the trick. She blinked her eyes and looked up at the woman who had been calling her.

"Y-yes, Mori-san? Is there something I can help you with?"

Furious, the woman threw a small stack of papers onto her desk- papers with their most recent clothing designs. "These just came back from the textile office," she snapped; "they said they can't make enough of these in time for the next season line to even make enough money that would fund back our expenses,"

Rosa sighed and gathered up the papers. "I will talk to them," she promised, rubbing her right eye.

"No wonder nothing gets done around here- when the person in charge just sits around and takes naps in her office-!"

"I-I…" she was cut off again.

"And another thing," the perpetually complaining woman lifted up her check for the week. "What's with this check?! Two years ago I made over double this amount every month- now you're barely paying me minimum wage!"

"I'm sorry, I'm do-"

"Doing everything you can?! Hah! Save it!" she folded her arms. "I've tolerated you for about as long as I can, Ushiromiya-san. I've stayed here because I have two children to take care of, and because I kind of felt bad for you at first- but if I get another check like this, I will be out that door in two seconds and you will never hear from me again! Do you understand that?!"

Even though Rosa was supposed to be in charge, it usually seemed to be the other employees who were running her around. Chikako Mori (or, in Japanese style, Mori Chikako) was the best coordinator on the team, and one of the very few people still left. If they lost her, it would severely damage their productivity and the small Anti-Rosa boutique that still remained of the once very large headquarters would probably fall under.

"I-I understand, Mori-san,"

The other woman didn't seem to have any more to say, so she stormed out in a huff.

Rosa was shaking. A single tear came from her right eye and she reached up to wipe it away. Eva and Krauss were probably right; she didn't have any business sense at all. She reached over to pick up a picture that had gotten knocked down- Maria's school picture from the year before. No matter how bad things were, that picture never failed to make her smile. Her two canine teeth were gone, and she was smiling so big that she had to close her eyes. "Ah, Maria, I can't wait to come home," she said to the picture. Now, she had to have a chat with the people in the textile office. She re-arranged the stack of papers and left her office to go find them.

She opened the door to an employee's only room, which had all the textile machines and employees inside.

"What seems to be the problem with our new design?"

One man answered; "We don't have enough people to get a hundred outfits done by the winter season- not since Rin and Manabe left,"

She set the designs down on the table. "Then try for fifty. We have to get something out there or people will never buy. If we don't have a product, we can't start building up our clientele. Get to work immediately,"

Fortunately, the textile workers were much easier to deal with than Mori. "Yes," they agreed, inspecting the design and color charts. Rosa left the room and shut the room; her head was pounding- probably from lack of sleep. She felt heavy-headed. The clock on the wall said it was 2:00pm; only four hours left until the place closed. Hopefully, she'd be able to make it home tonight to see Maria.

Again, she retreated to her office. There was another stack of papers there to order new supplies, and she was about half-way done. Rosa grabbed her purse from the edge of her desk, took some aspirin for the headache, and continued on with the form. Once she finished it, she sealed it up in a company envelope, scribbled the address on it, and left the building to go to the post office and mail it.

It only took her about fifteen minutes, but by the time she got back, a squabble had broken out between Mori and the cashier. Rosa grabbed the pounding side of her head, hoping the aspirin would kick in soon, and approached the counter. "Suzuki-kun, what seems to be the problem?"

He turned around to face her. "What's the problem?! It's almost 3 o'clock! I haven't had my break yet, and that person just let the last cashier go home for the day!"

"'That person?' Did you just call me 'that person?!' I've told you over and over not to call me-"

"And why exactly should I give a damn?!"

"You guys, you guys!" she waved her hands to get them to calm down. "It really isn't worth this. Mori-san, why did you let Sasaki-kun go home?"

She folded her arms and let out a "Hmph. There's no business right now! If we keep people on when they aren't needed, we're losing money!"

"…I see," Rosa was pretty sure Mori was more concerned about her own check than the loss for the company, but she didn't say anything. "Please consult me next time, Mori-san,"

The other woman didn't respond; she just walked away. Chikako didn't technically have the right to tell anyone else to go home, but she did it anyways. She would probably do it again, and again, Rosa probably wouldn't do anything about it. "I'm very sorry about that, Suzuki-kun. Please give me your vest,"

"Wha-what?!" by the look on his face, he thought he was being fired. She smiled at him.

"I'm going to call Sasaki-kun and ask her to come back in, but for now, I'll watch the counter. You can take a longer break if you want,"

"…oh," he pulled the vest off and handed it to her. "Ah, thank you, Ushiromiya-san,"

"It's the least I can do," she answered, taking the phone that was behind the counter and dialing the number. She got the voicemail, which meant she probably wasn't home yet. "Sasaki-kun, this is Ushiromiya Rosa. Mori-san sent you home without consulting me, and if it's possible, I'd like you to come back to work until the end of the day. Thank you,"

She stood behind the counter for about half an hour before anything happened- which was not only boring, but it set her behind with all the other stuff she had to do. Maybe she should have had Mori work here instead, but she was honestly too scared to ask her. Finally, someone came in. "Welcome to Anti-Rosa," she said, bowing with her hands clasped in front of her. "If you find anything on our shelves that you like, but it's not in your size, please let me know- we have more sizes in the back. If you have any questions, please call on me- my name is Rosa,"

"Thank you," the young girl nodded and came in to look around. After a couple minutes of browsing, she pulled the sleeve of one of the jackets on a coat hanger. "Rosa-san," she wasn't that far away, so the woman manning the register just looked over; "is this the Teddy Boy style of Western clothing?"

"Yes,"

Another person came in, this time wearing the vest and color-coordinated uniform.

"Sorry it took me so long, Ushiromiya-san,"

"It's alright," she answered, taking the vest off the top of her clothes. "I need you to run this cash register while Suzuki-kun is on his break,"

"Alright,"

"Thank you for coming back,"

The cashier nodded in response, and Rosa retreated to her office. There was a list of people she needed to call for the day, and most places were only open for a little more than an hour. Thankfully, her headache was gone.

She managed to get through most of the calls before five o'clock. Suzuki was relieved of register duty in favor of cleaning up. Before, that might have been the janitor's job, but they had to let the janitor go some number of months ago, so that duty usually fell on the cashiers' shoulders. It wasn't likely that anyone else would be coming today, so Rosa started with her final job; a daily tally of profits and losses, which meant a daily inventory.

Why did she even get into this?

The remaining employees started filtering out about 5:30. She was completely alone by the time 6:00pm came around. Discouraged yet again by the over-whelming losses her company suffered for the day, she turned the "open" sign to "closed," locked the doors, and made her last exit.

The drive back home was pretty time consuming; if that wasn't true, she would come home every day- for sure. Fortunately, tonight she could. At around 8:00, she pulled into the driveway and knocked on the door. Knowing her daughter inside would probably be afraid if she didn't know who was at the door, she said; "Maria-chan, it's me. Could you open the door?"

Maria wasted no time throwing open the door. "Mama!"

Rosa leaned down and hugged her. "Now that's the face I wanted to see,"

"Uu! I'm so happy to see you! Uu…" she pulled away suddenly, and put a finger up to the corner of her mouth. "Maria already ate tonight…but I can make something for you. Uu! If I knew you were coming home, I would have waited and made plenty,"

She patted her daughter's head and pulled her into another hug. "It's alright, Maria. I just wanted to see you,"

The nine-year-old giggled. "Come in and shut the door, Mama,"

She realized she hadn't shut the door yet, so she stood up and closed it.

"Did you have a hard time at work again, so you couldn't come home?"

"Yes, Maria. I'm sorry,"

"Uu! It's alright," on the floor in the living room was a gathering of several ceramic bunnies, some stuffed animals, and a board game. "I played a lot of games while you were gone. Uu! Do you wanna play, Mama?"

"…..I'm sorry," she answered; "I'm just too tired to play right now,"

"That's okay, Mama. You've been working hard. Uu! Why don't you go put your nightgown on?"

Putting a nightgown on sounded like a wonderful idea. "Okay, Maria. I'll put my nightgown on and we can watch one of your shows before you go to bed, alright?"

"Uu! Sounds good, Mama!"

The two of them parted ways for a moment; Rosa to go put her nightgown on, and Maria to go make some coffee (decaf) for her mother. She knew exactly how she liked her coffee- with a half a cup of milk and a tablespoon of sugar- so she even made the cup while she was in there.

"Don't forget to turn off the coffee pot, Maria,"

"Uu! Maria won't!" she grinned and turned it off. "Here you go, Mama. I made you some coffee,"

Rosa smiled, laughed, and ruffled her daughter's hair. "Thank you, Maria,"

From there, they made their way into the living room. Maria cleaned up her toys without being asked and turned on her favorite television show.

Rosa finished her coffee, and by the end of the show, she had started dozing on the couch. Maria giggled, turned off the TV, and brought a blanket out from the dryer to cover her with as she fell down onto the cushions. "Goodnight, Mama," she said, kissing her on the top of her head. And then it was time for Maria, herself, to go to bed too.

People thought Rosa didn't love Maria.  
Those people were undoubtedly wrong.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Would you like some more tea to drink?" Maria called to a mysterious teenage presence in one of the chairs.

"No thank you, Maria," he said, taking a sip out of his cup; "I have plenty for now,"

"Uu! Alright," she answered, setting the kettle down after she was done re-filling hers. "I've been waiting for you to show up. There's always an opponent in chess," she sat back down in the seat; "Fate,"

He appeared shocked, then chuckled softly at her. "I see. No one has ever identified a Fate on sight,"

"I was expecting you already. Maria understands; when you duplicate a world, you duplicate its Fate,"

"That's impressive for such a young witch,"

"Maria had a good mentor,"

Fate nodded and sat back. He didn't seem much more than a teenage boy, probably about sixteen years old if judging by appearance, with messy brown hair. There were freckles on his cheeks and glasses over his eyes. There was certainly nothing frightening or imposing about him.

"If I may say, Maria, I've never met a witch who was as kind as you,"

She giggled. "Kihihi, maybe I'd take that as a compliment if I didn't know some of the witches you're referring to,"

He gave her a half-grin. "I guess that's fair. The witch who created me wasn't terribly kind,"

"Uu…I know," she answered. "But," the serious expression on her face turned to a grin; "you're perfectly nice. Sakutaro was worried,"

"Ma-Maria!"

He laughed at both of them. "Don't misunderstand, kids. Fate is neither good nor evil, Fate simply is. The kindest of witches couldn't make me good, nor could the cruelest make me evil," he took the last drink of his tea. "Really, it's the humans who have the most influence over me,"

"What do you mean?"

"Ah, I see. I expected you to know that, but…maybe that was arrogant," he smiled. "Basically, humans have a lot of control over everything about me that you can see,"

"Really?!"

Fate nodded. "Yes. The only thing you can't do is change something from inside me. You can't pull out my guts, as Featherine would say, and you also cannot change them. That is the only part of me you cannot control,"

"What's on the inside?"

"Usually, it's just basic things like weather, or the basic fact that every human being dies somehow. Most of it is actually written in 'if…then,' statements- like, 'if Ange is sick on the day of the reunion, she will not go to the family conference.' Other circumstances determine whether or not she is still sick on the day of the reunion, and how likely that is to happen in the stream of kakera,"

"Uu!" she pumped her fist in the air happily. "Maria understands! That's very interesting,"

"Hah, I suppose it is. The thing I wonder about is…what exactly is inside me? Featherine may have somehow sewn it into my guts that your family is to die on Rokkenjima. I don't know if she'd have the power to do that…usually, only a god can, but if a god doesn't intervene…it could be done," he sighed.

"We'll have to find out," Maria smiled.

"B-but Maria-!"

"Shhh, Sakutaro!" she giggled and patted his head. "Well then, Fate, do you have a name of your own?"

He was surprised by the question. "No, I suppose not," for a moment, he thought about it. "You can call me…Mei,"

It sounded a bit girly to Maria, but she didn't complain. "Uu! Mei it is, then. It looks like the next day is starting," she moved the fragment around a little, trying to achieve some kind of positioning. "There we go,"

Mei politely motioned for her to continue her story.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

George was the sort of morning person who tended to wake up as soon as the sun was bright enough to make the sky turn blue. Hideyoshi had once remarked that it might be the reason why his favorite color was blue. Even when he wanted to sleep in, he had trouble doing so unless he was sick (or, at least, hung over). This particular day, he was up extra early- before the sun had even risen yet- and crept into the kitchen while his parents slept. A calendar on the wall showed the date, September 22nd, with a circle around it. Inside the circle was written "Anniversary." George smiled and pulled out the pots and pans from cupboards in the kitchen. He knew his dad's favorite food was dumplings, preferably with minced pork- and his mom shared his enthusiasm after tasting a family recipe- so he knew what he was going to make them for their anniversary breakfast. Maybe it was a bit unorthodox for breakfast, but he wanted it to be a surprise. Granted, they were probably expecting it anyways, but it was nice to at least think it would surprise them. As a side dish, he made a quick-pickled slaw. George was almost done when he heard his dad's alarm clock ring. Of course, Hideyoshi never got up at the first ring. There was plenty of time left for him to set the table. His mom's alarm went off, and he heard her laugh. Matcha lattes, napkins, and silverware went down onto the table.

"Hideyoshi, it's time to get up," a slight pause; he set down the plates. "If you don't get up, we won't have time for breakfast…" the last part of it was muffled and garbled by the closed door and distance between him and their room, but it sounded like "and then you'll be hungry all day."

Within about ten minutes, he heard their footsteps coming into the dining room, his father's feet shuffling and his mother's, thumping lightly when the ball of each foot hit the ground.

"George-kun, you made us breakfast?" Eva sat down by one of the plates.

"Yeah," he nodded. "It's your anniversary today,"

She looked to the calendar on the wall in slight disbelief, then laughed. "Well, would you look at that?"

Hideyoshi chuckled along with her, patting her shoulder. "I guess I didn't realize it was today," he admitted; "but don't worry, I have a gift for ya," he sat down in the chair facing his wife, while George was on the side in between them. Eva looked down awkwardly. "What's the matter, dear?"

"Well, I…haven't gotten anything yet," on television, these situations were almost always reversed. Fortunately, her husband just smiled at her.

"Don't worry about it, Eva. You've been really busy lately, and it probably just slipped your mind. Besides, our anniversary isn't over until midnight. You'll have plenty of time,"

"…yeah…" she grinned and picked up her fork. "This is very good, George- very well done,"

"He's a natural," Hideyoshi grinned.

"Thanks. I've actually been looking forward to it," he took a sip of his own drink.

"Hey, what are you plannin' to do today, George-kun?" his dad asked.

"Ah, well, I'm supposed to edit a couple newspaper articles. Why?"

"If you were free, I'd ask you to come down with me. I'm headed by the main restaurant today,"

"I see. Well, I'll probably get out early. Then I can come down,"

"Sounds like a deal,"

They didn't say much else for the rest of breakfast, mostly because there wasn't much to say. Afterwards, they put their dishes in the sink and disbanded to get ready for the day.

"George-kun," Eva called to him as she was finishing; "why don't I take you to work, instead of you taking the bus?"

George almost always rode the public bus to work, ever since he started editing articles for the local newspaper- about nine or ten months ago, right after he graduated with his BA in business. He wanted to make the money for buying a car himself. Of course, at 23, he wasn't sure if he'd rather have a car or a nice place to live. "Don't you have to get to work on time?"

"I've got time. It's right on my way to work,"

"If it's not a bother, sure,"

If there was a single word in the dictionary to describe George, it would probably be…"spoiled." And it wasn't the kind of spoiled that made someone whine and demand for no apparent reason; his parents raised him better than that. Rather, it was the kind of spoiling that made someone…a bit passive and insecure. Eva spared him nothing she could provide, including a small boat and boating lessons after he finished high school, but it seemed her pampering had the adverse effect of making it difficult for him to assert himself- to anyone.

"I'm getting ready to go,"

"I'm ready," he followed his mother out the door and got in the passenger's seat. As they pulled out, she had a question for him;

"What sort of gift do you think your father would want?" the slight red on her face indicated exactly how embarrassed she was to have forgotten.

"Dad's not a fussy person, mom. I'm sure he'll love whatever you give him,"

She sighed. "I know, but I don't want to just get him something generic. That's why I usually buy in advance…"

George smiled at her. In some ways, he really was exactly like his father. He saw the good in everyone, in everything. "Well, didn't dad say he wanted a hibachi to use at home?"

"..ah. Yeah, you're right," she smiled slightly. Eva didn't really like the idea of having one at home, since it looked so dangerous at the restaurant with the fire and theatrics, but it was the best idea she had right now. "Thank you, George-kun. I'll try to find one at the specialty shop today,"

"No problem, mom,"

She pulled into the driveway at the local newspaper headquarters. "Here you go, George-kun," she considered giving him a hug, but didn't want to embarrass him; "have a nice day, work hard!"

"Of course, mom. Thank you,"

The two of them parted ways there. While her son went to work at the local newspaper, Eva had to go by the Directors' office to drop off her paperwork from the previous week. It was a big office with no less than six stories, and two or three elevators on every floor in addition to staircases. She approached the reception desk with four manila folders in her hands.

"Ushiromiya-san! I'm glad you had time to run by today,"

"Of course, Tanashi-san. Is there something you need to give me?"

She shuffled some papers from behind the desk, and pulled out a certificate. "You got another certificate,"

Eva looked down, and took the certificate- with a half-smile going back up her face. On the certificate was written "Most requested employee of the month."

"The month isn't up yet, though,"

"No, but the boss printed them already and he wanted to make sure you got it before you went on vacation,"

It seemed a bit unfair that he was rewarding her so soon. There wasn't a lot of time left in the month, sure, but you never knew what would happen. "Thank you, Tanashi-san," she said politely anyways; "Are they busy on the third floor?"

"Hm…I don't know, let me check," she grabbed the phone and hit three buttons. The receptionist from that floor answered; Eva heard her voice, though her words were incoherent and garbled. "Good morning. Are any of the directors free?" there was some babbling. Eva tapped her fingernails on the counter of the receptionist's counter, finding it hard to be patient. "…okay…okay…thank you," she hung up the phone. "According to them, Anzai-san and Kimura-san are free,"

She bowed slightly; "Thank you very much," and walked over to the elevator. Once she was on the third floor, she looked for the door marked "Anzai." He always left his door open just a little bit when he was available. She was in luck; it was open a few inches. Eva knocked lightly on it with the back of her hand.

"Come in, come in," he motioned for her to enter. "Ah, Ushiromiya-san, just the person I wanted to see this morning,"

"Yes, sir. You were out of your office last time I came by,"

"No problem. You had a lot of jobs last week anyways, as I recall…"

"I've brought you the paperwork for all of that," she said, opening the manila folders. Inside each of them were multiple stacks she had kept together with rubber-bands, and each of those stacks contained paperwork she gathered from different bank sites.

"Wonderful!" he grabbed them eagerly. "Now I can record these. Thank you, Ushiromiya-san,"

"You're welcome, Anzai-san,"

"On your way out, please stop by the reception desk. They have more for you today,"

"Yes, sir,"

Eva politely stepped out, leaving his door slightly ajar, and approached the reception desk. "I heard you have some work for me,"

"Sure do," he opened one of the drawers on his side of the desk, and pulled out a few more stacks of papers. "Here. This should be enough to keep you busy for a while," he smirked. "You sure do love your paperwork,"

"Oh, you think so?" she laughed at him a little and took the stack. "Thank you. Have a nice day,"

"Have a nice day,"

She exited through the elevator and headed back out. Being a compliance officer was hard work. It meant a lot of paperwork and record-keeping. Fortunately, Eva was an organized person, and she was pretty good at her job- if the piles of requests she kept getting were any indication. Believe it or not, Ushiromiya Eva had a reputation for being "firm but fair" with her inspections. She had, in fact, called up Anzai multiple times to demand more time for a business to get things in order. There were also times when she would choose not to cite a rule violation; if it was corrected before she pointed it out, she often decided not to write it down. When fixing or remodeling was necessary, she would personally call any corporation she knew to convince them to make quick visits, instead of drawing out appointments. That was how she came to be one of the most requested at the building.

"Well, back to the grind," Eva sighed to herself, starting up the car.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Uu, Maria didn't know Eva-obasan had a job…" Maria looked through the fragment curiously.

"She probably didn't mention it," Mei suggested. She nodded. He set the first piece down on the board.

"Ah, what's that?"

"The storm over Rokkenjima is brewing," he answered. On Maria's side of the board, three pieces were already set up. The little girl played with the fragment.

"I guess Hideyoshi-ojisan doesn't have much to tell us about his work," she said, looking back to her opponent. "Maybe it's time for a story break,"

"Whatever you'd like to do,"

She clapped her hands together three times; "Ronove!"

"Yes, Maria-oujosama?" his figure appeared directly behind her. He bent his arm over his waist and bowed.

Beelzebub took notice immediately. "Ronove-sama!" no one could see her, so she suddenly just giggled;

"Oops," and made herself visible. The other six appeared behind her.

"Why were you girls hiding?" Maria asked. "You can come watch the game. Ronove-sama, could you get everyone some snacks?"

"Why of course. And you, sir? May I ask your name?"

"I've taken on the name Mei. I'm a personification of the Fate of this world. It's nice to meet you,"

"Welcome! The pleasure is mine,"

"I thought you only served Beatrice," this one came from behind Mei, originating from a tall woman- one with particularly long hair and a large hat.

"Virgilia!"

The boy was a bit startled; Mei's eyes widened and he suddenly became quiet.

"We were beginning to wonder if we would ever be invited to this game,"

"Of course! It wouldn't be the same without you,"

"What would everyone like for a snack?"

"I want some chocolates! And some pickles…um…and some cake…" Beelzebub couldn't quite reach the end of the list of things she wanted.

"Perhaps some cookies and tea will be enough for everyone for now," Maria suggested.

"Yes, of course," he clapped his hands that time and disappeared.

The Seven Sisters bowed in the presence of Virgilia.

"It's nice to see you girls,"

"""It's nice to see you too, Virgilia-sama!"""

"Ah, it looks like our story break is over," the little girl informed them, picking up the fragment.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Eva arrived at home, she had a decently sized wrapped box with her. The lights in the kitchen were on, and when she peeked in, she saw Hideyoshi sitting at the table with a cigar in his mouth. Sitting beside him was another wrapped box, and on the table were two smaller boxes. She raised a brow.

"You…got me three presents?"

Hideyoshi jumped. Evidently, he hadn't been paying much attention. He pulled the cigar out of his mouth and put it out in the ashtray he was using; Eva hated it when he smoked around her.

"Actually, these two here are from George. He told me where they were earlier today," he replied.

"Why isn't he here?"

"He said it's our anniversary, so he wants to let us celebrate however we want without him being involved,"

Eva smiled a bit shyly. "Then…where is he?"

Eva's life was all about George from the moment she knew she was pregnant. Even Hideyoshi knew that, and he knew to expect such questions, even though their son was a full-grown adult. "I guess he went with some friends for the evening," she looked worried, but his responding smile was enough to soothe her a bit. "I'm sure George-kun will be happy without us nagging him,"

She sighed. "You're right,"

"Of course I am! So, why don't you come sit down and we can open our gifts?"

Eva nodded and sat down. Hideyoshi moved the other boxes so she could set hers down. "Here," he handed her the box with her name on it from George. "We can open these first,"

Nodding in agreement, she pulled the wrapping paper off and set it on the table. The cardboard box had a lid on it, which she took off to find a box full of shipping popcorn. To keep from making a mess, she moved her hand around slowly to find the gift. It was a small, crystal deer, sculpted so its head was low to resemble a creature taking a drink. Eva grinned. "What a thoughtful gift," she was known to collect crystal figures like that, and deer were among her favorites.

"Yes, it is. George-kun is very thoughtful,"

She smiled. "It's your turn, dear,"

"Alright," he opened the one addressed to him, from George. Inside it was a relatively small box with a clear lid, showing Hideyoshi's favorite cigars. Eva giggled slightly, though he knew she disapproved of his smoking. "Very nice. Don't worry, I'll keep them away from you, Eva," he winked at her. "Now it's time for my gift," he passed the next box to her, this time his own present.

Once she got through the wrapping paper and to the present, she found a ladies' suit that looked like it was either ordered from America or made in a western-themed shop, based on the style. "It's wonderful! Where did you get the idea for this?"

"You've been saying you need new work clothes for a while now. I knew that was your favorite style of clothes, so I had it ordered for you a while back to make sure I'd have it shipped it time,"

A half-smile curled up on the right side of her face. "And…how did you know my sizes?"

"I checked the tags when you weren't paying attention," he chuckled. "I'm just glad you like the gift,"

"I do- I love it. Thank you, Hideyoshi," she pushed the larger box closer to him.

"Ahh, now it's my turn," he grinned. "I wonder what it could be," Hideyoshi worked through the wrapping paper until he got to the front label with picture. "A little Hibachi that can fit in the house. Thank you! I'll be able to cook for you on it," it was his favorite method of cooking.

"I'm glad you like it. Just be careful when you use it,"

"Of course!"

There was a slight pause, during which Hideyoshi got up to throw the wrapping paper out.

"Well, Eva, what do you say we go out to dinner? I made some reservations this morning,"

She glanced at him. "It sounds nice, but…are you sure we have the money for that?"

"Don't worry about that, Eva. We don't splurge often, and it's nice to go out and do these things once in a while,"

"…you're very persuasive," she smiled, standing up. Being the more assertive partner, she sometimes had to learn when to let her husband lead. If she absolutely refused now, it would hurt his feelings- and besides, he was right about them having enough extra cash for an anniversary dinner. "Alright, just give me a chance to get ready,"

He nodded. "Yeah, maybe I'll get changed too,"

At a first glance, Eva and Hideyoshi didn't look like a good match. Some people even thought they looked awkward together. However, the truth was that in their inner thoughts and private lives, the two of them fit together like puzzle pieces. He was probably the most wonderful man she had ever met, sensitive and agreeable; he even got along with their family. Between the two of them, he was more the socialite.

"Are you ready to go, Eva?" he straightened his tie.

Sometimes, she wondered…

"Almost,"

Because, it was obvious to her what she saw in him. He was friendly, laid-back, and attentive…

"Okay,"

But what exactly did he see in her?

Eva finished putting her hair up in its characteristic bun. "I'm ready,"

Hideyoshi opened the door for her.

It was a question she could never bring herself to ask directly.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"George-kun!" the voice originated from a tall, slender boy wearing a basketball jersey. He had a basketball under his arm.

"Hi there, Toshi-kun. I didn't know you played basketball,"

"I don't play on a team," he answered. "I just come to the park to play for fun," with a light chuckle, he added; "I'm not really good enough to play on a team,"

"It's good to have a hobby, though,"

Toshi was one of George's friends from college. They got to know each other by working on projects together, and by tutoring each other in tough subjects. The boys were about the same age, but Toshi lived away from his family- in his own apartment- and drove his own car. In short, he was much more independent than George.

"Wanna play for a while?"

"Sure, but I'm probably not very good,"

He grinned. "That's okay, neither am I,"

They played one-on-one for about an hour. By then, George was pretty sweaty and Toshi ran out of water. He couldn't let himself get dehydrated due to a medicine he was taking.

As they got into the car, George had a realization. "I guess I forgot to pack an over-night bag," it was hard to tell if this ditziness was a result of being pampered, or just simple forgetfulness- since he hadn't made plans with Toshi until the last minute.

"Oh, don't worry about it, George-kun. I've probably got something at home I can loan you,"

"Thanks- sorry about that,"

"It's alright,"

They headed to the apartment. Toshi got some more to drink and sat down on the couch.

"Have you eaten anything yet?"

"Not for dinner,"

"Well, why don't I cook something?" George suggested. "If you're hungry,"

"I could eat. If you want to, go ahead,"

While he was in the kitchen, he tried not to use too much of Toshi's food- even the stuff that was clearly left-overs. It would be rude to just go in and cook up everything. Teriyaki chicken, broccoli, and rice was enough for the two of them. He brought it out to the living room (since he knew his friend didn't care if they ate there) and sat down. After a moment, he noticed him closely inspecting a piece of broccoli.

"…it's broccoli," he told him, with a slight grin.

"Oh, alright," it seemed a bit awkward.

George changed the subject. "How's Shii-chan?"

"Hm? Ah, she's good," there was a tender smile on his face. "She broke her arm a few weeks ago, but she's been recovering well. I go by every day to see her and make sure,"

"How did she do that?"

"Racing bikes," Toshi chuckled, probably finding some memory humorous. "…with my little sister,"

Even George laughed at that.

"Are you still planning to get engaged this year, George-kun?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I finally bought the perfect ring. It'll probably be a while before we can get married, though,"

"Why is that?"

"I still need to make enough money to pay a mortgage and maintain a car," he answered. "I don't make enough money right now, I'm only a part-time editor's assistant. I've had my business degree for a few months, but I haven't been able to do much with it,"

"I'm sure something will turn up, George-kun,"

"Thanks,"

They finished their plates and cleaned them off in the kitchen.

"Well, how about a movie?" Toshi suggested, looking through some of his small collection.

"Yeah, sure," he sat down on the couch. "Whatever you want to watch is fine with me,"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Uu," Maria set the fragment down. "It looks like this chapter is over," crumbs of the cookie she was eating fell out of her mouth.

"Maria-sama would like to ask you all what you think so far," Belphegor bowed to you.

"Everyone is believing, right?" Mammon stood up and looked out to the audience. "Everyone has to believe for Ange-sama to have her happy ending!"

"Ohh! Is she going to find a Prince Charming?"

"Is that all you can think about, Asmo?!"

It looked like there was some more bickering going on. Mei sighed, but otherwise seemed undisturbed by it. Maria took over speaking again after she finished her cookie. "You probably thought Mama was often being mean to me and breaking my things, right?" she smiled gently. "Actually, what we showed you was much more normal. Uu! And Eva wasn't mean and in a bad mood all the time," she giggled. "I guess the story is going to take another break now. Feel free to ask us questions any time!"


	10. A Typical Day, Rokkenjima Style

A/N: My head-cannons have reared their ugly…err…heads. I hesitated to post this one because I wasn't getting as many reviews/follows as usual, I thought maybe I'd lost you all. This chapter is probably going to get a bit Umineko-political, and I guess it can't be helped. Cloudy with a 100% chance of shit-storm. I'm going to make sure to include ambiguous statements and implications in any direction in the spirit of the cat-box. Since Maria is the Game Master, it is always possible to argue that the stories look this way because of her perspective putting a spin on things. There are alternatives to everything not stated in red!

Also…yes, I know Sanon probably left already in storyline time. But she's my favorite, so I included her for like two seconds here. If you need an interpretation, interpret it however you want.

Chapter Ten: A Typical Day

Let it be known that Rudolf never had a vast interest in inheriting the fortune. He treated it like winning the lottery; if he got it, cool! If not, he hadn't lost anything. In fact, of all the Ushiromiya siblings, he was the least class-conscious. Ironically, he was also the one with the most money. Being the boss of the yakuza was a pretty high-paying job, and even being the "former" boss, he still made his fair share of money...as a pimp. It was a job that didn't require him to leave the house and brought plenty of pretty girls (and…occasionally guys…) to his door. It didn't take much for him, so he normally spent his days at home.

And today was no exception.

"Ange-chan," he lifted his six-year-old daughter up on his shoulders. "Are you ready?"

"For what?"

He chuckled. "We're going to the zoo today,"

"Don't you remember?" Kyrie came out of the kitchen with a small cooler. "We've been planning it all week,"

Huh. Maybe she had forgotten. She reached down and hugged her dad as well as she could from her position. "Will I get to see the lions?"

"You got to see them last time, didn't you?" Kyrie asked, patting her head. She then turned around, glancing up the stairs. "Battler-kun! Come on! It's time to go!"

Only a week remained before the conference. The thoughts in six-year-old Ange's mind were scrambled. One thing she knew for sure was that she didn't remember this time well. She barely remembered Battler moving back in with the family.

Within a few seconds, she heard him. "I'm co—oomph!" looking back up, he was tripping down the stairs, knocked off-balance in his effort to put a sock on. He eventually landed face-first on the ground. Ange felt compelled to help, but was laughing too hard. "Waaahhh…" he whined; "making me get up at this hour is cruel!"

"Onii-chan is a sleepy head!" Ange giggled. "Come on, don't you want to see the lions, too?"

"It's already 11 anyways, Battler-kun," Kyrie jabbed. "Or is sleeping until one because you need your beauty rest?"

He finally stood up and finished putting the sock on.

The four of them filed out to the car and got situated.

Ange didn't remember going to the zoo. Yet, why should she remember? She was just going today. Her head felt so strange…ever since Battler gave her these hair-ties a week ago, she was feeling so mixed up.

"What's your favorite animal, onii-chan?"

He smirked at her. "I prefer the kind that's cooked up and put on a plate,"

Ange was shocked by the answer; her eyes widened. "Onii-chan! That's mean! You shouldn't say that!"

"Ihihihi," he chuckled at her and patted her head. "Sorry, Ange-chan," being so young, she hadn't quite grasped the concept that the beef on her plate came from a cow. "Hm…I like llamas,"

She wasn't sure if she was more shocked by this answer or his last one. "You're not joking this time?" he shook his head. "…wh…why do you like llamas?"

"Because!" he grinned widely at her. "Llamas seem like they have a good sense of humor!"

With that, she laughed.

"I thought Battler-kun would pick an animal more like himself," Kyrie interjected.

"Like a monkey?" Rudolf suggested.

"You're right. Battler's a monkey,"

"Wha-what?!" he responded with a humorous exaggeration. "When did this turn on me?!"

"And Rudolf," Kyrie's eyes shifted towards her husband; "you're a dog,"

"Oh. Well, be careful, I might have fleas,"

Ange giggled all through the conversation. The whole fifteen minute drive to the zoo, he kept making her laugh by doing strange things with hand puppets and giving himself fake horns. "At least someone thinks I'm funny,"

"Alright, we're here," Rudolf announced, getting out of the car. Ange fumbled to unbuckle herself, again stricken with the feeling that she shouldn't have this much difficulty to do something that simple, even though something like this should be normal. Kyrie opened her door, and she wiggled out.

"I wanna see the lions first!"

Rudolf took her hand. "You want to see the lions first, second, third, and last," he joked. Kyrie took her other hand. As they were walking, they would both lift her up and swing her.

"Weeee!" it was so much fun, yet…something felt so weird.  
Weren't these people her parents? This was normal…in her memories, this was exactly how they always were. So, why did it feel weird to see them smiling?

"The first animal we'll see is the ticket vendor," Kyrie joked as they entered the little gift shop where people went in and out. Rudolf purchased the tickets while Ange briefly looked around.

"Let's go, Ange-chan. We'll come back here later," Battler grabbed her shoulder, then let go when he was done talking.

"Okay, onii-chan!" she took his hand.

"The lion show isn't for another hour," Rudolf said as he looked through the schedule. "They're probably sleeping now,"

"We can't see the lions then, otou-chan?" she didn't remember ever calling her dad that. Wait, what? She called him that all the time! What was going on with her head?

"Not right now. We'll go see the show later, but for now, the sea otter exhibit is first on the map,"

The zoo was one of the happiest places to go. Ange loved everything about it, from the cute little animals to the scary big ones she could look at as long as she was safe. That was why Kyrie and Rudolf liked to bring her here. And now, with Battler…the gang was all here. While the two siblings went off to see the exhibit, Rudolf and Kyrie lagged behind.

"Hah," she laughed a little. "You know, Rudolf, someday that smile is going to cost us a lot more money,"

He just chuckled in response, hoping the "Buy me a car!" stomp-stomp-slam of adolescence was just a stereotype.

"Okaa-chan! Otou-chan!" Ange waved. "Hurry up! The otters are eating!"

"We can't miss that, can we?" he smirked at her, and they sped up to appease their daughter.

"Look!" she pointed to an otter who seemed to be struggling with its food. When it finally got to it, Ange squealed with delight.

"Cute," Rudolf remarked.

"Yeah," Kyrie agreed. "Thanks, kiddo. If you hadn't called us over, we wouldn't have been able to see it," she patted Ange's head.

"Well, Ange, are you ready for the next one?" she nodded eagerly and Battler took her hand again. "Okay," he said; "it's off to the rhinoceroses we go!"

They travelled the zoo like that for a while, looking over the exhibits. Ange got to see the lion show, and they stopped at a small vendor after lunch to get some ice-cream. Over the course of the day, they saw that show two more times, and visited every exhibit at least three times. The place closed at sunset; by then, Ange was already so exhausted Rudolf had to carry her to the car. She slept lightly over his shoulder, and was completely asleep by the time they got her buckled in. Battler got in the back seat and sat beside her.

"…we're really glad you decided to come back, Battler-kun," the somewhat random statement came from Kyrie. "Ange's been happier since you moved in with us,"

Of course, he wouldn't know that, but he believed Kyrie. Rudolf, perhaps trying to avoid yet another confrontation with his son, said nothing. "…yeah," he answered, folding his right arm behind the back of his head. "I'm kinda glad I came back, too," he didn't say it, but…maybe six years was long enough to hold a grudge.

"Battler-kun, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about," Kyrie looked back to see him briefly.

"Hm? Okay,"

"Your father and I have been talking since you moved back in. We know you wanted to go on to university this year, but since you had a full-time job you didn't think you could take all the classes. So…why don't you start classes in the spring?"

"…How?"

"You can stay with your father and I and we'll…try to find a way to pay for whatever we need to,"

"You really mean that?"

"Yes,"

Battler grinned widely. "Th-that's great!" but, something else occurred to him. "Wait…didn't you guys say you had a lot of debt?"

"Ah…yeah," she smiled; "we're still paying your mother's medical bills- but we're on a good track for paying them off now," of course, those damn things accumulated so much interest it was ridiculous. "We'll be able to do it, Battler-kun,"

He paused and thought for a moment. "If you're sure, I'll talk to the store manager about reducing to part-time while I'm in school…" Battler leaned gently over the back of his dad's seat.

No 'thank you' was ever verbally said, at least not at that time. But, it was understood between the two of them.

"Hey, you know," Rudolf mentioned; "the family conference is only a week away,"

Battler sat back as they pulled into the parking lot of their favorite family restaurant. This grin was for a different reason. "I can't wait to see everyone again!"

"I bet they feel the same way," his dad replied, opening the door and hoisting Ange from the car. She woke up slightly and yawned. "Are you sure you want to go to sleep before dinner?" she answered by hugging him tighter around the neck and burying her head. "You can have cake for dessert,"

The six-year-old opened her eyes immediately. Rudolf chuckled.

"There's my girl,"

They headed inside, where a greeter cheerfully sat them down and took their drink orders. Kyrie sat next to Battler and across from Ange, while Rudolf sat beside Ange and helped her with the cross-word on the game they gave all kids coming in. It all seemed perfectly natural- a weekend outing at the zoo and a nice dinner to celebrate. But to the little girl, it again felt strange that her father was playing these kiddie games with her.

It was like…they really were a happy family. For some reason, it seemed that the more time she spent with them, the more she missed them. Maybe, if she got enough rest tonight, this weird feeling would go away- although she hadn't been getting any less sleep than usual lately.

"This is fun!" she giggled, looking at her dad. "I think this one is 'pie,'" her dad nodded.

The family spent about an hour and a half dining out. At the end, they all got cake. Yet again, the little girl was exhausted; Kyrie carried her to the car this time. She immediately fell asleep.

"It looks like she's got a bit of a sunburn," she remarked.

"We probably all do," Rudolf said. "We were out there for hours,"

Battler nodded in agreement; his shoulders were feeling a little warm. "Well, baachan had a good home remedy for sunburns to take the sting out. We can try that," his dad nodded.

A few minutes later, they were back home. Kyrie carried Ange in again. "Are you sure you don't want to take a shower and change into your nightgown?"

She whined and shook her head. Normally, they'd make sure she was clean before they got in bed, but no one had the heart to force her to stay awake anymore.

"Alright, I'll take you to bed,"

She had to walk up the stairs to get to her bedroom, not an easy feat when she had a six-year-old in her arms. Battler took a seat on the couch and grabbed a book off the end table while his step-mom tucked his little sister in. Mystery novels were a guilty pleasure of his. He may not have exactly been a bookworm, but there were things he liked. Rudolf headed off for a shower.

Meanwhile, Ange quickly plummeted into a deep sleep. As her consciousness approached the Land of Dreams, she saw a figure standing before her. She was blurry at first, but the deeper into sleep she drifted, the clearer she became, until she was looking at someone who could have been her mother (if Kyrie wasn't)

…or her sister…

…or…maybe even herself…in some future world.

She didn't know how, but she knew immediately that this person was the cause of her head feeling so strange lately. This adult appeared to be about as confused as she was, if not more so. "Wh-who are you?"

"…I am…Ushiromiya Ange…"

"What do you mean?! I'm Ushiromiya Ange!"

The adult Ange blinked and sighed. "I know," she said. "I'm you…from another world. From…many other worlds, actually,"

A six-year-old couldn't be expected to understand.

"I'll try it this way: I'm you when you grow up,"

"…No way…!"

"I guess the situation is complicated," this wasn't what she expected to happen. She thought she would get to "re-start" and be as herself in this world. Beatrice and Battler…this must be the safety mechanism that would allow her to leave this world if things got bad. By not re-starting her in this world, they kept her from being tied to it- but in that case, even if her family came home…

She didn't finish the thought.  
She already knew.

"Nevertheless," the grown-up continued; "I didn't know my being here would confuse you so much. That's not what I'm trying to do,"

"Wh-why are you here, Ange-san?" it was weird to be talking to herself like this.

"I can't tell you why I'm here," again, she sighed. There was no way she could explain all of this to a child, even if that child was her. "You'll find out soon enough, I'm sure. It's nothing you need to worry about,"

The little girl quirked a brow, and the elder patted her head.

"You're going to wake up soon,"

"O..kay," the six-year-old was clearly still confused. Who could blame her? "Uh, well, it was nice to meet you…"

Ange nodded, and the dream world faded from view in a natural sleep-wake cycle. She returned to the Land of Dreams several times after that, but never met the adult woman again.

Huh.  
This was…  
very strange.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"It's already not much longer 'til the conference," Maria mentioned, taking another sip of tea.

Mei gave her an odd look. It was a smirk, with something mischievous- but not quite malicious.

"What is it?"

"Ah, just keep going with your story, Maria," he said; "My pieces will introduce themselves soon enough,"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

All human life is meant to be spent in servitude.  
But there was something…"special…" about children without families.  
At least, that's what the elders of the Fukuin House said.  
God will be your Father and your Mother, they said, and you can devote yourself to a life of servitude.  
"Because…after all…" they would explain in the chapel; "children without parents are no better than furniture."

You'd be surprised at how many of them accepted it. If you think about it enough, it makes sense. Humans don't just go leave their children in the front yard of some strange place. But furniture that has outstayed its use…why would they care about what became of it?

That's why any kind of hospitality or kindness for some of them was difficult to accept…and Shannon was no exception.

It was a little less than a week until the family conference would take place on Rokkenjima, and she had come down with a cold. Dr. Nanjo took her temperature, and found that she had a slight fever. "It doesn't seem very severe, but I would suggest taking it easy for the next couple days if you can,"

"O-oh no, I can't, but—"

Natsuhi was in the room with them. Her arms were folded, but not in a threatening way. "Shannon," she cut her off; "if the doctor says you need to get plenty of rest, it's important to get plenty of rest," with a tired smile, she added; "I'm going to need your expertise during the family conference. I want you to be feeling well so you don't lose face,"

Natsuhi already knew the drill. The Ushiromiya siblings had a tendency to jab, tease, and even humiliate the servants- because if the servants could be found incompetent, their masters would definitely be found as such. It seemed that they were always looking for ways to undermine each other- especially Eva.

"Ah, but I can't just stay here. I have work to do. I don't want preparations to get behind or put too much stress on the others,"

"I'll have Genji call and find out if we can re-arrange someone's shift so they can lend an extra hand today. You get some rest, Shannon. You're a good worker- it's okay to have a day off sometimes. Kanon," she turned to face the younger boy in the doorway; "please check in on her when you have spare time today,"

He lowered his head. "Yes,"

The madam left to go find Genji, and it was time for Kanon to get to work.

"Feel better, nee-san," he said as he left.

"Th-thank you," she blushed, shifting uncomfortably on the bed. These were the servants' bedrooms, so that those who stayed over-night would have a place to stay. Even though they were supposed to be working, Natsuhi usually made special care that they would have nine unscheduled hours a night to sleep.

After Dr. Nanjo left and shut the door, Shannon got up to change. Most of the servants had their own space in this room where they stored over-night clothes; hers were in one of the drawers. She changed out of her work outfit and put on the blue, silk nightgown George had given her as a gift on Christmas. He said the color suited her. She cracked the door so she could hear what was going on and relaxed on the bed. Even though Natsuhi said she wanted Shannon to rest and get better, she felt guilty having the day off.

Not long after, there was a knock on the door. She jerked to face it. "Oujo-sama, you startled me,"

Jessica smiled. "I've told you not to call me that when my mom isn't around. I hate it. My name is Jessica," Shannon started opening her mouth, but the blonde waved her off. "Don't apologize. I just came here to, uh…bring you something,"

"Ah, what is it, Jessica-sama?"

Huh. Close enough. She pulled her right hand out from behind her back. "I kinda…made it up really fast, but…"

It was a piece of paper folded into a card. She had drawn some music notes on it, and on the inside was written "We hope you get well soon!" All the other house servants, including her fill-in for the day (Sanon), and even Krauss and Natsuhi signed it. Shannon blushed deeply and grinned, holding it close to her chest.

"Th-thank you very much, Jessica-sama,"

"You're welcome,"

Jessica had friends at school, but if she was asked, she would probably describe at least most of those relationships as intensely superficial. Her best friends were the servants- and especially Shannon.

"Gouda-san wanted me to let you know that he's going to make a special breakfast just for you, to help you feel better," she giggled a bit; "he said it's a mystical, magical cure for a cold- it's probably a home remedy,"

"O-oh, he doesn't have to go through the trouble, he can just bring me the left-overs…"

"I don't know, I got the idea he wanted to do it," she ruffled Shannon's hair. "I'll come see you as soon as I get home. Try to get some rest- and enjoy the pampering, okay?" the blonde winked and left the room.

She made it downstairs and nearly out the door before Kanon stopped her.

"Oujo-sama,"

"Hm?" she turned around quickly in excitement, hoping he was about to say something meaningful. Those hopes were crushed when she noticed the Bento box in his hands.

"You almost forgot your lunch," he bowed.

"Oh!" she blushed, feeling herself sweat a little. "Aha, ahaha, thank you, Kanon-kun,"

He nodded. "Think nothing of it, oujo-sama, and have a nice day at school,"

They separated there, and Kanon returned to the kitchen.

"Gouda-san, is there anything more you'd like me to help you with in here?"

"No. The kitchen is my domain, Kanon-kun. I'm sure madam has plenty of other chores to keep you busy with for the day,"

"Yes, sir," he left and re-joined with Sanon in the living room. "What are you busy with right now, onee-sama?"

"Cleaning the windows," she responded with a snippy tone. "Can't you see with your own eyes?!"

Kanon kept himself from reacting. If they broke out into a fight, it could get bad. "I see. Thank you," lowering his head slightly; "I will be in the garden if you need me,"

"…hmph!" she returned to her work, and Kanon went out to the garden. He preferred to do this job with Shannon, but he didn't have that option today, and he'd rather work alone than with Sanon.

Gouda finished making his magical, home-remedy soup and put it on a serving cart to go deliver it. When he got to the door, he lightly knocked and peeked his head in. "Good morning. I'm sorry your breakfast is later than everyone else's,"

"It's okay," she smiled; "Oujo-sama told me you were going through the trouble of making a separate meal just for me," Shannon blushed.

"Yes, of course," he answered, pulling the whole cart in. Now that he was completely inside, he saw a book by Shannon's bed, and she was nervously fidgeting with the skirt part of her gown in balled fists. "When I was a kid, my parents made this for me when I was sick. It's a magic potion to make all your problems disappear," he chuckled softly. "Maybe that's an exaggeration,"

Shannon giggled. "Thank you very much, Gouda-san,"

"You're very welcome. I'm happy to do it," he handed her the bowl and a spoon, situating the tray so she could use it as a table. Shannon turned and sat sideways so she could eat. He was right, it really was a good soup. "How do you like it?"

She took a second to swallow. "It's wonderful!" her smile was as sincere as any. "Thank you so much, Gouda-san. I really appreciate it,"

"Ah, those are words every chef loves to hear," Shannon giggled at his statement, and a small pause passed. "What book are you reading today, then, Shannon-chan?"

"Oh, it's a western mystery book- by Agatha Christie. It's called Endless Night,"

"And how did you find out about this book?"

"One of my friends likes Agatha Christie novels," she answered. "They have some of these at the Fukuin House library, so I've been reading them,"

"What other ones have you read?"

"And Then There Were None was the first one I read. It's my favorite book so far, but I just started this one," she blushed slightly, setting down the now empty bowl of soup. Gouda handed her the glass of water she reached for. "Ah- th-thank you,"

"Again, you're welcome," he grabbed the wheeled tray. "Here's a coaster," the chef sat one on the end table by the bed. "Get plenty to drink. If you need anything, call us,"

"…alright," she agreed shyly as he exited. Now that she had a warm meal in her stomach, Shannon was feeling a bit tired. She set her drink down on the coaster and laid back for a nap.

Meanwhile, the normal activities of the house were already getting well underway. As Natsuhi made her usual rounds about the house, she noticed multiple times that Kumasawa was taking more than her fair share of break time- but that wasn't unusual. She already knew, but she also knew the woman was getting on in years and had been a good, reliable servant much of her life in this mansion, so she let it go. Hell, she noticed it most of the times when the servants were slacking off, but most of the time she let it go; there was a lot of work to do in this huge mansion. Anyone would need a break now and then.

Perhaps the servants thought of Natsuhi as fearsome and strict, and perhaps she was indeed hard on them. But to say she was cruel and severe would be an enormous exaggeration. One must also remember that the servants who had the most complaints were often the most dramatic teenagers at the Fukuin House. There are people on this earth who would complain about all the sand on the beach, and those are the people most often heard.

Perhaps her view of the world had been very strict in the beginning, as well. When she first married into this family and progressed to being the current wife of the family head, she saw everything in black and white. Not wanting to bring even more shame upon the Ushiromiya family, she had tried to keep her and her families' relationship with the servants very businesslike… but, even though she gave it her best effort…Shannon and Jessica had become best friends, and Jessica was developing feelings for Kanon…

…and she, too, found a good deal of friendship among the servants. She more than understood why Jessica felt so close to Shannon. Even though there was a serious age difference, that girl was one of the most sympathetic, kind people she'd ever met. When she realized that, she remembered that servants aren't really much different from other people. It was something a person like Natsuhi…shouldn't have easily forgotten.

After all, as Eva said, she was "just a maidservant."  
Yes, Ushiromiya Natsuhi was a person with many secrets.  
That mirror she had was the only thing her father left her.  
Her servant name was Nanon.  
And…she broke a lot of vases.

It was about 10:30am when there was a gentle knock at her door.

"Madam," she recognized the voice as Kanon's; "I've brought you some tea,"

"…ah…" she set aside the stack of papers she was going through. "Come in, Kanon-kun,"

"Yes, ma'am," he slowly pushed the door open and pulled the cart in. All the servants knew she liked to have a mid-morning tea. Even when she forgot or didn't realize, someone would be knocking at the door with a warm tea kettle and a cup that was made up exactly how she liked it. "Gouda-san got wrapped up in making lunch, so I brought it today. I hope you don't mind,"

"Of course not, Kanon-kun. I appreciate it," she took the tea cup and sipped out of it. "Ah, this is particularly good. Did Gouda-san happen to tell you what exactly was in it?"

Kanon, with his arm bent slightly over his waist, bowed and said; "He said it is a Lady Grey with lavender, but I wasn't certain of what he meant. Please forgive my ignorance,"

She smiled at him. "It's alright. He's made it before, I know the process," there was a small plate with some cookies on the cart as well. Natsuhi giggled. "Actually, it looks like Gouda-san is a very eager worker today. Why don't you have a few cookies, too, Kanon-kun? I'm sure you've been working hard today,"

"Thank you madam, but I'm still full from breakfast," he lowered his head. "Besides, it's more important that you have something to eat,"

The mid-morning tea and snack break was invented by Gouda shortly after Natsuhi hired him as her personal chef. He unintentionally discovered that she had a migraine disorder, and Dr. Nanjo mentioned that she had a tendency to go too long without eating or drinking, which could trigger those unbearable headaches. She seemed to be unable to stop herself when she was wrapped up in some kind of work or financial trouble, so Gouda immediately began a mid-morning tea and snack break to help keep them away. Natsuhi came to like it.

"Are you sure, Kanon-kun? He gave me a lot,"

"I am certain, Madam, but I am sincerely grateful that you made such an offer,"

She nodded and bit into one. Kanon had probably already had one or two cookies to taste test the batch (Gouda was persuasive enough to convince him, she was sure), and he had probably offered Shannon her own plate along with Genji and Kumasawa, so she didn't feel too bad. "Ah, you know…I have a question I've been meaning to ask you, Kanon-kun,"

"If you would like to ask, then what is the question, Madam?"

"I was wondering where the name 'Kanon' came from," she told him.

His expression didn't change in the slightest. She expected more of a reaction from him, for some reason. "To be honest, I don't know who called me that. It has always been my name,"

Huh. So, he didn't come up with the name himself. "I see. Is it similar to your name?"

The boy didn't seem to understand. "It _is_ my name, Madam. I _am_ Kanon,"

"…I mean, is it similar to the name your parents gave you?"

Kanon began to talk, but it was only a small, hesitant sound that came out before he closed his mouth. After a moment of considering, he put his hands behind his back and, again, lowered his head respectfully. "I don't think it came from my name. I think the head of the nursery was trying to name me after Canaan, in the Bible. It seems she's not a very good speller,"

"That's interesting. So, it's not similar to your given name?"

He paused to think again. "I can only tell you it's not from my first name,"

"What do you mean?"

He looked up and sighed. These questions were technically easy to answer; after all, he wasn't being graded on them or anything, but it was hard to answer- at least for him. "…'You have to be the main character in your own life.' 'You have to set your own stage.' 'You have to overcome your own obstacles.' That's what oujo-sama is always saying to me," he said; "I don't know who my parents were. I don't remember- maybe I was too young when they brought me. I heard oujo-sama always saying those things, so I decided to follow up on my curiosity and asked to see a copy of my check-in papers…but I only looked at my first name,"

Natsuhi, confused and a little curious, quirked a brow. She had already had two cups of tea and finished most of the cookies, but she was interested in this conversation. "Why didn't you want to know anything else?"

The look on his face was solemn and serious. It seemed he didn't really want to answer the question, but was making himself do so. "Because it won't make a difference,"

She nearly choked.

"A family name is for someone who has a family. Even if I know who they are, I will still just be Kanon. I have no reason to know who the strangers are that brought me to the Fukuin House,"

Natsuhi was so shocked by the last answer that she couldn't bring herself to ask another question. Kanon grabbed the cart.

"If you are satisfied, Madam, I would like to return to work,"

She nodded, allowing him to exit. As their employer, Natsuhi had all the paperwork pertaining to the servants in her possession, but she didn't necessarily read them. She could easily find out all of that information, but if Kanon wasn't even interested in knowing, there wasn't much of a reason for her to know about it either.

In the Fukuin House, they teach you not to have dreams. Your role in life has already been determined; your fate is to live as furniture in the service of humans. Most of the servants didn't believe it that severely, but after being told something millions of times, they would begin to accept it little by little. Kanon believed it more seriously than anyone else he knew, possibly because he was so young when they began drilling it into his head. Furniture shouldn't have its own desires, because their desires might conflict with those of their owner. Chairs don't care where they are placed, they don't even think about it. That it was they were to strive to be.

That was why money couldn't buy him what he wanted.  
What Kanon wanted the most was to become human.  
But no matter how much money a chair might have, it could never change.

"Nee-san," he knocked lightly on the door to the servant's room, and peeked in. She was fast asleep, so Kanon just sneaked in with the few extra cookies Natsuhi left behind, and left them near her water on the end table by the bed.

Then, he took the cart back downstairs, and got back to work.

In a few hours, Jessica returned home- with a ravenous appetite, as usual. Gouda, who was already used to this, had kept plenty of lunch food warm for her and made a plate for her as she came in. She gave him her usual "Thanks, Gouda-san!" and sat down at the table to devour it in five minutes.

Genji checked up on Kanon and Sanon, who didn't appear to be socializing very much (or at all, considering they were on opposite ends of the house), and then Shannon. She had woken up and was shuffling around awkwardly.

"Shannon, have you been getting rest today?"

"Yes, Genji-sama," her hair was tousled, indicating that she'd just woken up.

"Good," he picked up the plate and her half-full glass of water. "I'll get you some fresh, cold water to drink,"

"Y-you don't have to do that,"

"I know,"

While he was gone, Jessica came in.

"Shannon-chan! How was your day? Are you feeling better?"

"I-I've had a lovely day," she blushed; "and I am feeling a little better. It seems my fever's gone down,"

"That's great!"

"And how was your day, oujo-sama?"

"It was alright. Gouda-san sent me with one of his famous puddings,"

"Here's your water, Shannon,"

"Ah, thank you,"

Genji left again, probably to go tend to Kinzou or Krauss.

"You should get your homework done, oujo-sama. Don't worry about me,"

"Shannon, I'm just Jessica right now, okay? You aren't working, and I don't let my friends call me that,"

"O-okay,"

"I just got home from school, so I'm going to take a break for a while. Are you in the mood for a game?"

The girls played games upstairs while the other servants wrapped up the last of their daily chores. Sanon wasn't as thorough and efficient as Shannon, which made more work for Kanon, but he tried to get along with her to avoid bothering Shannon. He knew she'd be upset if she knew. Besides, it wasn't the first time he worked with her. He was still inspecting when he walked right into Krauss.

"Oh, ouji-sama, I'm sincerely sorry- I was being inattentive,"

"It's alright, Kanon. Accidents happen," he answered. "What are you doing up here? I thought Sanon was cleaning out the bedrooms earlier,"

"She was, sir. I wanted to make sure it was done correctly,"

"I see. That's responsible of you, but I think you've done enough extra work for today. If you have some of your own chores to do, you should focus on them,"

"…yes, sir," Kanon bowed deeply, and went back downstairs to finish dusting off the vases.

With that, Krauss left to go check on Shannon for himself. "From what I've heard, I'm about the only person who didn't come in today. I heard you were resting, but I wanted to let you know dinner will be done soon,"

Shannon was startled to have him come to visit her, to which Jessica just laughed.

"I, uh, I…th-thank you, Krauss-sama," she bowed. Krauss just chuckled.

"I guess I shouldn't make myself such a stranger,"

He headed back downstairs, and Jessica checked the small clock by the bed. "Huh. I didn't think it had been that long," it was almost 6:30, which was usually the time they ate dinner.

"We should wash up, Jessica-sama,"

"…yeah, I guess you're right,"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"There were a lot of characters in that one," Maria blinked, taking a deep breath.

"I guess that means it's my turn to introduce my piece," Mei grinned.

She knew what he was talking about. "Well, go ahead then,"

It was time to introduce  
Person X.


End file.
